Lend Me A Nightmare
by Aria-chan09
Summary: In a war powered by a healer gone wrong, Kyo is ordered to kidnap the granddaughter of The Grandfather healer, but the saying Anything can and will go wrong at an in opportune moment is true. Kyoru & more.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Fruits Basket - I could never write anything like what Natsuki Takaya has, with her amazing creation!

**Chapter 1**

"Highness, the speed at which our soldiers are dying is incredible. It's not the battles that kill them so fast; it is the diseases that our enemy employs against us. They have a powerful healer on their side, and he is able to deploy sickness in ways we can't comprehend, let alone the idea of stopping him."

Akito boredly looked at the council member, and sighed. "I'll take care of it. You may go," she dismissed him with an arrogant wave of her hand. Examining her fingernails, she boredly called out, "Bring me that monster."

* * *

Sohma Castle was a quiet place on the inside, almost as silent as a tomb as the saying goes. As the new council member walked through the halls, being shown around by the member she was replacing, Machi wondered if she would go deaf for the silence.

"Now, if you are going to be on the council, you should know that Akito is a woman, and not a man. And she _really_ does not like other women, so you should watch yourself around her." The previous council member glanced down at Machi, her wrinkled face trying to express the importance of being careful around Akito. Machi nodded slowly to show her understanding.

"You do not understand some things about the Sohma family. Akito will be suspicious of you for a while. She also can be perfectly calm one moment, but if you say the wrong things you can make her extremely angry instantly, but you might not know it instantly. Many things like this are daily occurrences that you will learn to deal with and ignore if needed. Just come visit me if you have any questions."

The old lady stopped as she heard some yelling. Motioning for Machi to follow her, she hurried through the corridors until she came to the source of yelling.

"I AM SOO SORRY THAT I MISSED THAT SPOT ON THE SILVER PLATE!! I DO NOT DESERVE THIS POSITION, PLEASE REMOVE IT FROM ME NOW!! IN FACT, I RESIGN SO THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE TROUBLE OF FIRING ME!!"

"Ah," The previous council member said. Calmly she walked up to the panicking person and pushed his side. Turning to the other servants she smiled and calmly said, "As Ritsu has resigned, I suggest that you take him to the castle gate, and get his things for him. When he awakes, please tell him to go visit Shigure Sohma up in the Western Mountains." The servants nodded and began to carry out her orders.

Turning again to Machi, she told her, "I was going to warn you about Ritsu's temperament, but now it seems I do not need to. Now follow me again please. We shall continue the tour."

* * *

A red haired, golden skinned man kneeled in front of Akito, before bowing, almost as an after thought. "Yes lady?"

"The healer called Grandfather. He has grandchildren yes?"

"Yes lady, two of them, a 27-year-old man and a teenaged girl."

"Which of the first two would you say is more important to the Grandfather, the boy or girl?"

A small pause was allowed, before the man looked up at Akito and smiled. True it was forced, but Akito liked to have him act like he enjoyed what he did. "That would be the girl, lady."

"And why not the male, monster?" Kyo's eyes flickered slightly at the word monster.

"Because, Lady, he is not a blood relation; his mother remarried into the family after her 1st husband died…" Kyo trailed off, seeing that she was no longer interested. He thought she actually would like to know who the male was, but that would only make her angry considering who it was.

"Go now, and kidnap the girl, alive and unharmed."

Standing, Kyo backed slowly out of the room, before turning and grimacing. Akito did not like to have him in her presence for long, but he was the monster right? This he was the one to do all the dirty work, because he was the monster of the family, of the zodiac. Something so hideous shouldn't mind doing unpleasant work, right? This last thought made him snort in disgust. As he slammed into his room, he muttered, "bastards."

His room was actually very well sized, decorated nicely (In black and deep red) and located in the nicer wing of the castle. He figured it was because one of the previous heads of the family thought that the monster should have some 'payment', though it was more of a reminder of their status and what they were. He _had_ to do the ruler's will, whatever it was. Usually it wasn't a council job or bringing them their meals, he thought sarcastically.

Walking back to the closet in his room, he changed out of his stable hand clothing into something cleaner. All of his clothing that he didn't use for around the castle was black or deep red. It just seemed fitting to Ayame, who'd made all of his clothes; he'd probably thought Kyo's room and clothing should match. Kyo hadn't even chosen the colors, they came with the room.

As he pulled on black gloves, they covered two small tattoos of a fire with a black space in the middle on the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers. Grumbling, (so many jobs lately, he wanted to relax!) he blew out the only candle lit, and walked out the door.

* * *

Tohru was humming as she washed the bandages Hiro had given her. Hiro was the heir to a business that sold very high quality fabrics (Most were made from wool), and her grandfather was a good friend with the previous head of the business.

Lifting up one bandage, she looked over to her two friends Hana and Uo, who were trying to discreetly do more than their share of bandages. They were her bodyguards in a way. She laughed, and they looked over at her, Hana with a fond smile, Uo pretending to jump in surprise at being caught.

"It was nice seeing Hiro-san again, and this time he brought his fiancée, Kisa-san!" Tohru said happily. "She is sooo cute!"

Hana smiled. "Oh yeah, Hana!" Uo said after a moment. "Have you heard about a person named The Heartless Fire?" Tohru finished a bandage, trying to think of what she might know.

The Heartless Fire was a thief, assassin or other random things; he didn't seem to do any one particular job. Lately he'd been even busier than usual, it must be because of the war. The odd thing was, he always found a way to leave a mark, which always had red around a black space. Maybe he just wanted his work to be known, but if he was caught that would make his punishment even worse, wouldn't it?

Hana began to tell what she knew. "He has _naturally_ orange hair, which partly gave him his name, and he's taller than regular men. And that's all anybody knows about what he looks like." Tohru looked at her questioningly, and Hana explained. "People only know this much because when he first stole something, he slipped up and was seen. Of course, he is better now and you wouldn't even know if it was him who did anything if he didn't leave his particular mark."

"His height suggests that he has some noble blood of some kind. As a noble shouldn't have any reason to have the occupation he employs, and no noble has any relations with orange hair, this points to the fact that he is the illegitimate son of a noble." Hana paused in her assessment, seeing that all the bandages were now washed and drying. Standing she offered a hand to Tohru saying, "We should get back now Tohru. Uo, I shall finish telling you about him as we walk, if you wish."

Tohru nodded absently, humming again. Uo walked to the side and slightly ahead with her sword across her back, while Hana walked directly beside Tohru.

"Now, there _is_ the fact that The Heartless Fire is an old name. He appeared about 1,000 years ago, when the kingdom first began being ruled by the Sohma's, which might indicate that he didn't like the Sohma family. Unless he has some power that is unknown, we can assume very safely that it is a name passed down. This fact is supported by the slight differences in marks. Yes, the marks vary, but the thinking up of how to make the mark is remarkably different to my point of view."

"NOOOOO!! SHIGURE-NII-SAN I'M SOOOO SORRY!! I DON'T DESERVE TO EVEN BE BREATHING THIS HEALING AIR; I SHOULD JUST D—"

The shriek that had so suddenly cut through Hana's talking, just as suddenly cut off. As the group walked around the corner, they found Shigure standing over a pretty woman on the ground. He looked up at them, gave them a thumbs up, and smiling said, "Justice prevails once again!"

"_You_ fight for justice now?" Uo asked, an eyebrow rose in disbelief. "What, did you get tired of writing all that smut, or have you gone entirely mentally unstable?"

"Your attitude wounds my heart!" Shigure said, the picture of dejection. "It's hard to remember that you are a ranking lady when you walk around with swords and slash at people with them!"

"So who's this poor lady right here, you're new secretary? Didn't Yuki tell you that you couldn't have a woman secretary?" Uo asked boredly, already tired of his dramatics.

"This happens to be one of my cousins! HIS name is Ritsu, or Rit-chan as we like to call him," Shigure said, looking down at Ritsu and nudging him with his toe. "He arrived about 2 hours ago saying that he didn't have his job cleaning the castle silver anymore, and would I please, if it wasn't too much trouble, find him a job?" Shigure took a deep breath before continuing.

"Well, Yuki walked by at this point, and told me that Rit-chan as my secretary would be acceptable, and then set Rit-chan to work for me." Shigure paused for a moment, before saying, "You should have _seen_ the smile Yuki was wearing when he made Ritsu my secretary. It was really, **really** scary!! I can not understand what I could have done to make him smile in such a way."

"But why was this Ritsu apologizing?" Hana interrupted, staring at Shigure suspiciously, while Uo rolled her eyes at Shigure's question. The wind lessened momentarily in Shigure's sails, but then came back strong as ever.

"Oh that. He dropped an inkwell," Shigure dismissed this simple accident with a wave of his hand. Ritsu was starting to awaken again, so Shigure excused the both of them, before somehow coaxing Ritsu to follow him without a fuss.

Tohru watched after them, before asking worriedly, "Is Ritchan-san going to be all right with Shigure-niisan?"

"I'm sure they will Tohru," Uo said reassuringly, before murmuring to Hana, "But with Shigure it's not all that sure…"

A few minutes later…

"Shigure-niisan? I brought the quills you requested…" Ritsu said hesitantly, pushing open the door to Shigure's office.

"Ah yes, thank you very much Ritsu," Shigure said, finishing the Onigiri he'd been eating. Offhandedly he asked, "Are you going to wear women's clothing after today?"

"Why? Is it unsuitable?" Ritsu asked worriedly. "Does it make you upset that I wear these?"

Shigure smiled, but still looked annoyed. "Yes, it does," He said in calm voice.

"I'M SOOO SOOORRRYYY!! I SHALL TAKE IT OFF RIGHT NOW SHIGURE-NIISAANN! PLEASE FORGIVE MEEE-" Ritsu collapsed as once again Shigure poked his side with a book.

A few houses away, a silver haired, silver eyed male closed his eyes, before asking a black haired male beside him, "When does he move into that house farthest away from the hospital?"

Manabe held his fingers up and ticked off a list. "Well, first we have to fix the roof over the cafeteria, then we have to," Yuki stopped listening, knowing the list already.

"And then, after all that _long, hard _work, which I shall somehow end up helping with _all_ of it, making me sooo tired, we need to remodel _that_ house. THEN he can move in."

"Well, make remodeling that house a priority," Yuki muttered.

* * *

So, what do you think of it so far? I'm working really, really hard on this to make it really good writing and good pacing, no holes in the story…and all those good things!!

Ayame: Please transport yourself with that little button that takes you to the review page, and write a review! It would be very much appreciated if you have any advice, so do not hesitate if you have any! But if you simply wish to praise this story it is welcomed very much as well! So chop chop, get clicking! (Me: Aya, we don't order them to review…;;)


	2. Chapter 2

Random fact you might not have known. Kyo means large, approval, ginger! All of it totally suits him don't you think? (not to be mixed up with Kyoo which means "today". Example: Kyoo wa tenki ga warui desu (meaning the weather today is bad))

Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, it wouldn't be a manga, it would be a regular, no-pictures book, and it's native language would be American English. That is, if I could think up something like this at all!

**Chapter 2**

"Look, there's Mayu-sensei!" Uo exclaimed.

"It's good to see her up," Hana said, smiling slowly. "After that accident and finding out that she'd lost some of her memory, I was quite worried."

Tohru hurried over to Mayu, exclaiming, "Mayu-san! Is it all right for you to be up and walking already?"

"Yes it's all right Tohru-san… but shouldn't you be doing something else though?" Mayu said, a puzzled look on her face. Tohru was about to respond that she was usually taking lessons from her, but Hana nudged her slightly, shaking her head.

"Ah, yes Mayu-san. I'll go take care of that now…" Tohru said sadly. Turning, she and her friends walked away into the house.

Uo flopped down onto a pillow, leaning back and closing her eyes to rest them momentarily. "It's really sad, seeing Mayu-sensei like this."

"Yes. She was a very good healer, and a master teacher for our Tohru," Hana said, picking up a cross-stitch pattern of black flowers and starting to work on it.

"So why can't we call her sensei in front of her?" Tohru asked, threading her own needle for her own cross-stitch.

"If we tell her all of the things she doesn't remember, she wouldn't really remember them. If she remembers them on her own, it's better," Uo explained.

Tohru nodded at this simplified explanation, before sitting straight up, eyes wide. "I can't believe it, I forgot that I need to study those facts for my Culinary Arts lessons!" Reaching over into the cabinet, she pulled out some parchment that had words scribbled all over it, accompanied occasionally by a drawing or notes on the side. A very studious look on her face, Tohru examined her notes. Uo and Hana needed to study as well, but they had planned on studying later. Seeing as she had nothing else to do, Uo went and studied with Tohru.

Hana smiled at her two friends. Her thoughts drifted back, remembering when Uo had first come here. She herself had just come to this place…

(Flashback)

_The small blond girl huddled in the doorway of the kitchen, trying to keep warm. The cook opened the door to throw out some meat scraps, exclaiming when the girl toppled into her legs. Bringing her inside, she sat her by the fireplace to warm up, before going back to kneading her bread._

_A little girl with brown hair wandered in, and asked for a tray of food for one of the patients. As the cook prepared one, the blond haired girl stirred, smelling the food. She started suddenly, which startled Tohru._

"_Who're you and what're you going to do to me!" she demanded. Tohru's eyes were huge, and she stuttered out, "I don't know I just came in here to get some food for one of the patients and then you woke up and," _

"_And you don't have to keep explaining Miss Tohru," the cook said, gently pressing a tray into her hands. Turning to Uo she asked, "Now what's your name missy?"_

_The blond haired girl raised her chin and said proudly, "I'm Uotani Arisa, and I'm the daughter of a marquis!"_

"_Well be more respectful. Now help her with that food!" _

_Trotting to catch up with Tohru, Uo looked around her, smelling a bittersweet smell, and seeing calming watercolors. As they passed a room with weapons, Uo stopped, so Tohru slowed down and called back for her to catch up. Uo did, asking where she was._

"_You're in my grandfather's hospital. He's a major healer."_

"_You're the granddaughter of a _healer_?" Uo asked doubtfully "Let me guess, your grandfather is THE Grandfather," she finished sarcastically._

"_Oh yes, that's the name everybody knows my grandfather by!" Tohru said happily. "He calls himself that because he says the best way to learn healing is to think about the patient like they're one of your dearest, closest people."_

_As Uo stared in disbelief, another girl with long black hair and light less eyes came up. Turning to Uo she smiled lightly. _

_"Tohru, The Grandfather was asking where you were with that food..." _

(End Flashback)

After that, Uo had started to learn along with the other few students there. But she was more interested in weapons and combat training. So half of the time she would have spent learning healing was spent on weapons et cetera. Hana herself was taking a different type of healing lessons, due to her different ability.

"Oh, look at the clock, it's time for supper!" Uo said. Putting down the parchment, she tapped Tohru's shoulder.

"When making pies, you can put a pan on the rack below, to catch any juices that might bubble out. You don't put it on the rack the pie is. This way you don't have a messy pie-tin bottom, … Wah!!" Tohru jumped in surprise at Uo's tap.

"Well, if you want to just think about fruits and pies I won't stop you," Uo said grinning. Smiling embarrassedly, Tohru stood up and followed her friends to the dining hall.

* * *

Softly humming a slow, soothing song, Tohru wrapped up a patient's slashed arm. As she worked, the patient grinned sheepishly at her.

"I guess I should a been more careful when taking my violin out from under my arm, huh," Momiji said.

"Well, if those little tuning knobs are that sharp, I would suggest it," Tohru responded. Patting the finished bandage lightly, she smiled saying, "There, all better!" Momiji hopped off the table. Tohru smiled after him, thinking that he was well placed. He was in charge of making sure nurses treated the patients with cheerfulness, and it came easily to him because he was so naturally cheerful.

Looking at the clock, she realized that her shift was over, and she could go to bed now. As she walked to her sleeping area, enjoying the beautiful full moon and the world bathed in it's softer light, she began singing.

She paused for a moment, trying to remember the proper lyrics. "Tis a gift to... Spying a cat curled up at the base of a tree, she smiled and finished the verse, "Tis a gift to be a little cute kitty!"

Walking over, she bent to pet the cat, only to find that the big, dark streaks in its fur were actually streaks of blood. Her eyes wide, she took out her spare bandages and wrapped them around the cat, before picking it up and taking it back to the place she had just left, the hospital.

* * *

"Well, animals aren't really harmful to people recovering unless the person is allergic to the animal. And cats catch mice. So there shouldn't be any fuss over it staying here Tohru."

"I named her Moriko, Mori-chan for short, because she was at the base of a tree!"**1  
**

"Oh no Tohru, that won't do. This cat here is a _boy_."

"Ah, yes, I didn't think to check the gender…"

"Shh, I think we're waking him up!"

The voices that had sounded a long ways away were closer now. Opening a bleary eye, he tried to stretch, but winced when it hurt. When he looked, he found bandages around his middle and legs. Blowing air out of his nose in annoyance, he turned and jumped slightly when he saw the face of a girl really close to his.

"Shoot, we _did_ wake him up," The girl in front of him said resignedly. She was blond and blue eyed he noted, meaning she was not Tohru Honda.

The blond moved aside, and was replaced by another face, which was extremely pale. The hair was black, and so were the eyes. The hand that reached out to gently pet his head had fingernails painted all black. "Kinda weird…" was his only thought, along with that it wasn't his target.

His head was becoming clearer, but it was still fuzzy.

"I'm sure he'll be fine Tohru…" a slow, smooth voice emitted from the black haired girl, apparently talking to the other voice he'd heard. Wait, Tohru?

He felt himself being picked up, and twisting his head, he saw medium long brown hair, and looked into warm brown eyes. _"Bingo!"_ he thought. Target located. Now to plan what happened next.

Getting slashed to a bloody mess and not capturing Tohru Honda immediately was not in the plan. Getting there and kidnapping her before she was aware he was there WAS the plan. Akito wanted him back soon, she'd throw a fit if he wasn't…It was so hard to think when he was drifting back into the black oblivion though…

* * *

"He really is a cute cat, don't you think so Uo-chan?" Tohru whispered as she set the healing cat back down on his bed, a basket with blankets tucked inside.

"So, Tohru, you're going to visit some relatives tomorrow? For a month, am I right?" Hana asked as she petted Kyo's head.

Tohru nodded vigorously, a happy smile on her face. "Yes! I'm really excited, because it's been a while since I've had a chance to visit them! I don't mind that I need to wake up a bit earlier to get there before dark!"

Uo, reminded of time, glanced at the clock, before she yelped. As Tohru put a finger to her lips to remind her to be quiet, Uo pointed frantically at the clock. It was almost time for lights out, and she and Hana needed to get to their rooms. Tohru nodded quickly, and watched as her two friends hurried through the door, though Hana just looked like she was gliding quickly, not in a hurry at all.

Yawning, Tohru got ready for bed, and blew out the candle. Climbing into bed, she whispered, "Good night, uh, wait…" She sat up, wondering if she should still call him Moriko. She puzzled for a while, before falling asleep mid-thought.

* * *

Kyo woke up when he poofed back into his human form. Luckily, Tohru did not. Looking around, he remembered where he was, and grimaced. Grabbing the blanket out of the basket, he wrapped it around his waist. He remembered where his clothes were, first thing was to see if he could get Tohru Honda out of this place dressed as he was.

Walking over to her bed, he paused, staring at her eyes to see if that would wake her. If it did, he wasn't the one who would be eating sock for a while. But it seemed that it wouldn't wake her. Neither would lightly poking her shoulder…nor picking her up…Idly he wondered if she would wake up if somebody shouted. But he didn't want to test that idea right now.

Crawling out the window, he carefully grabbed her bridal style, and jumped up onto the top of the wall, creating a very brief shadow on the ground, before he jumped down and sped off to find his clothes. It was cold for later autumn…

* * *

**1** Moriko means forest child.

Second chapter done! It's only 5 pages, and the first was 6…but it seemed a good place to stop. This is going pretty fast, about a chapter a day! (Today's writing time was interrupted by trouble with annoying lines used to separate sections of writing that won't disappear after you've used them for a while…ick)

Aya: Please shower this dear girl, who is aspiring to be like Gure-san, with praise, as writing is very-

Ah, Aya-san? Not like Shigure, I don't write smut! And simply asking them to review is enough!

Aya: But this is a most baffling thing, why do you not want to be praised?

Please review my good friends if it suits you!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Stifling a yawn, Uo walked into Tohru's room, saying, "Tohru you sleepy head, you need to wake up!" She paused, seeing the bed covers slightly rumpled, but otherwise made up. Shrugging, Uo figured that Tohru had been so excited that she hadn't taken the time to make the covers neat, and walked back out of the room. She didn't notice the bandages on the floor, or that the cat was gone.

"Hana, she must've left already," She called, walking off to get and early breakfast.

* * *

"When boiling rice, you don't stir it…"

Kyo's ears twitched at the unexpected noise. Looking down at the girl he was carrying very carefully, he realized that she had said it. But she didn't _look_ like she was awake. Was she talking in her sleep? Sighing, he glanced around before stopping in a place that looked like it wouldn't be too uncomfortable to rest in.

Setting his captive down, he undid the tie to his cloak and flung it over her sleeping form. Walking over to the hole between the rocks, he cleared the entrance out a bit and inspected the inside. Finding no bears or anything else annoying to deal with, he went back to the stream and his captive.

Pulling off his gloves, he bent down and cupping his hands in the water, then brought the water to his face to drink. Wincing at the ice-cold water running down his throat, he braced himself, before splashing some on his face. Shuddering, he started to pull his gloves back on.

"Uhhh…." He spun at the sound, looking at the girl immediately. Seeing his cloak moving, he instantly moved to it and pulled it back from her face. Sleepy brown eyes looked at him in confusion, before comprehension seemed to take root, and she started to blush. He looked at her; an eyebrow rose, wondering just what conclusion she had come to.

"I'm so sorry, I tripped and fell again, didn't I?"

He blinked. "…What?" he asked intelligently. Her face became confused again. "Did I not trip and fall, which knocked me unconscious, and now I'm in…oh…" as she looked around, her look only became more confused. Finally she looked back at him. When he didn't say anything, but only sat there, she began to fidget.

"So, I guess I'm not at my grandfather's hospital anymore…" she began. He rolled his eyes, but she didn't notice. "Where am I?"

Reaching over, he roughly grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Somewhere," was his gruff answer. As he pulled her not so gently through the entrance of the cave, she gave a small 'Eep!' and tripped. Frowning, he picked her up with a bit more gentleness and deposited her by the wall. Were all girls this clumsy?

Tohru sat there silently, extremely confused, but getting the feeling that he wouldn't be too receptive to questions.

She watched as he started to pull on some black gloves, wondering if he liked the color black. She frowned slightly when she spotted something that looked like blood on his hands, and scooted over closer to him. He watched her suspiciously, tugging on the second glove to make it fit right.

She could tell that he was surprised when she grabbed his hand, and that he was expecting her to try and do something to him so she could escape. Shaking her head, she gently pulled off a glove, and examined the tattoo she found. Her shoulders relaxed, and she pulled the glove back on.

* * *

She seemed to be watching my hands for some reason; what's so interesting about them? Suddenly she scoots closer to me, and I can't figure out what she intends to do. That she thinks she could do something to me, so she can escape is possible, though not very logical. But she only grabs one of my hands, and instead of twisting it back, or trying to, she just takes off my glove.

Oh, I see, she was curious about what was on my hands. Well sorry Tohru, only my tattoo there, and no injury. Oh wait, she's relaxed now, not disappointed even. Was she _worried_ about me? I roll my eyes at my wishful thinking. Yes, it all makes perfect sense; the kidnapped is worried about the kidnapper.

I watch as she reaches over to my other hand and repeats the process. After she's finished replacing that glove, I sigh and say boredly, "Yeah, I'm The Heartless Fire…" I waited for her eyes to go wide, for the fear to become the thing controlling her. But…

"Ooh…" is all she says. The fear still isn't showing. "That name sounds similar to a person my friends were talking about yesterday! What was it now…?" She sits for a moment, and I stare at her, wondering if she's stupid or something.

"Oh yes!" she exclaims. "It's The Fireless Heart! Funny how similar your names can be, isn't it?"

As she looks at me with a small smile, I'm staring at her incredulously; my mouth would be hanging open if I didn't have better control.

As her smile falters, I tiredly rub my head, and try to stretch. A sharp pain in my side reminds me that I'm not fine as frog's hair. Her eyes look down at my side where my hand is, and she bites her lip.

Apparently she can overcome some of her shyness when it comes to healing stuff, because she grasps the bottom of my shirt and pulls it up, ignoring my protest. Her eyes don't even widen when they see the gash there; it must be training or something, so they don't worry the person, which in turn could hinder their work.

She reaches inside the obi at her waist, and pulls out a roll of bandages, scissors, and a jar of something, probably some sticky, smelly goop. She twisted the top off, before reaching in and scooping some out with her fingers. As she reaches to dab some of that goop on my gash, I jerk myself away, my lips curled in a snarl that has no sound, yet.

She looks at me in surprise, before saying plaintively, "But it's to help you! I promise that it won't kill you!" I just glare at her. I wasn't going to let anything unknown near me, especially from a healer I'd just kidnapped, because I wasn't a baka.

She stares at me, and tries to move closer. I move away, but stay in front of the entrance. After a while she gives up, and sits down dejectedly. Suddenly she brightens, and reaches into her obi again. Just how many frickin' things can she stash away in that sash thing?

Wait a second…just how sharp is that knife? No! Don't do anything to yourself, Akito wants you unharmed! I lunge at her, and she drops the knife in surprise. I glare at her harshly, and say very firmly, "No," while holding up the knife she dropped. Gosh, I feel like a mother telling her child about the danger of knives. Wait, her chin is trembling now… she's crying!

I let her go and sigh. "Look, don't cry, please." She looks up me, startled. "I just didn't want you trying to kill yourself or anything." I explain, thinking _very_ hard to myself, "Do not blush, do NOT blush, ARGH! You're blushing!"

She giggles slightly, and her tears are gone. I hold up the knife and ask, "So if you weren't going to try and kill yourself, what were you going to do?" _Why would she happy about killing herself _I wonder, remembering how she had brightened. But you never know with these healer people, they might believe that it's better to die than let their bodies be stolen or some stupid crap like that.

Looking up at me innocently she explains, "I was going to cut my finger and then put some salve on it to show you it's not going to hurt you."

I sit and think over the possibilities. She could just be playing dumb, but she could be telling the truth. And what if she had built up immunity to the poison? I look at her, and after a moment decide to let her 'help' me. If I die, it's my own fault. And Akito would have to wait ages to berate me. Oh goody, that means it would just fester in her twisted brain, and make it worse for me. Or maybe I'd never see her again...

Sighing, I pull off my long-sleeved shirt and turn my side to her, wincing. She hesitates, looking at my arms and back, before pulling out a _lot_ more bandages. Like I asked before, how many frickin things can she store in that thing without it being noticeable?

As she applies the salve, I almost jerk away, that stuff is COLD. But I grit my teeth and sit absolutely still. Am I still blushing? I thought I got rid of that annoying thing already.

"What are you smiling about?" I ask gruffly. She shakes her head and starts applying salve to another gash, this one on my arm.

"You know, your wounds…" She starts, glancing at me to see if I mind her talking. I stay silent and looking straight forward. From the corner of my eye, I can see that she is blushing as well, which kind of surprises me. Shouldn't she be used to seeing guys shirtless by now?

"These gashes look extremely like the gashes on a cat I treated last night," she finishes. I stiffen and remain silent (my head is getting dizzy too…), but she doesn't notice that I stiffen because she's scooping out more salve.

_Crap_ is my first thought, but then pragmatism takes over, even in my fuzzy brain. Nobody in their right mind would even mention the idea of me being a cat, because it sounds loony even in you head.

"You even have the same red eyes as that cat," She continues.

Suddenly her head is hidden from view and smoke is everywhere. I groan, wishing that I wasn't so weak. It must have been because I was so tense or something. Forgive me, but I haven't been nursed by a girl, ever! It's always been Hatori, IF I ever got hurt at all.

"Heartless Fire-san?"

My head is even fuzzier now… Hey, I'm the Heartless Fire aren't I? Can't have her calling me that, somebody might hear or something…right?

"It's…Kyo," I say tiredly, before falling asleep.

* * *

"W-w-what should I do? He turned into a CAT! And then he turned back- was it something I did, is he allergic to-"

"Shut. Up." I grit out, wishing that I could stop feeling so tired. The girl squeaks, but becomes silent.

I open my eyes, to find that I'm covered with my own cloak, and a very red Tohru is sitting beside me. My head is clearer at least…crap, this blush is just too stubborn to die!

"Turn around," I sigh. She nods and complies, saying that she's sorry for something or other…I notice that my arms, chest, and lower legs are bandaged at least. She was too embarrassed to even check if I needed bandaging anywhere else though, for which I was thankful.

I tap her shoulder to let her know it's all right now, but she takes her time turning around. When she finally is turned around, I see curiosity in her eyes, but she doesn't look like she'll be asking anything. I reach up and regretfully hit her at a particular point, successfully knocking her out. I am in no mood to explain exactly _why_ I turned into a cat.

Reaching for my cloak, I fold it up, and place it between my stomach and her back so that I can hold onto her while I sleep, but she won't scoot close enough to transform me. I pulled the blanket over us, the one I had taken from her place when I didn't have my clothes, and fall asleep.

* * *

"It's kinda weird not talking with Tohru before we go to sleep," Uo said quietly. Hana nodded, before looking at Tohru's door. She paused, and going to the door opened it, seeing the window open. Frowning, she walks over and closes it, asking Uo, "Was this open when you came in here this morning?"

Uo thought a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, it was. That's kinda odd, because it's not that warm right now, it's really cold for this time of year."

Hana nodded, looking around the room. She bent down, and picked up some bloodied bandages. Uo looked at them, before she recognized them.

"Yes, they are the bandages we placed on that cat. They don't look right, do they?" Hana said.

Uo shook her head. "It's almost like the cat suddenly became too big for them, but that's impossible, isn't it?"

Hana shrugged. "Come Arisa, it's almost lights out," she murmured. Uo nodded, pocketing the bandages and following Hana out the door.

As they walked to their rooms, Uo asked, "Do you think that maybe the cat made a mess on the blanket? It would explain the missing blanket, and the open window."

Hana shook her head, keeping her opinions to herself.

* * *

Another chapter done! Hooray! No thanks to this stupid n key, who can't make up it's mind if it wants to work or not…

An obi is this sash thing that women wear around their waist when they're wearing a kimono. (Look at Ritsu when he first comes to visit, he's wearing a kimono and an obi.) This isn't very informative, but I'm not the best source about Japanese info in any case!

Ayame: Of course not, because you have not ever lived in Japanese culture, you haven't been around anybody who is from Japan, nothing!

Please finish embroidering that shirt with Kyo and Tohru holding hands! Watches eagerly

Kyo: WHAT?! Let me see that thing! I hug him and stick him in a kitchen that Tohru is cooking cod in.

Please review kind people, if it suits you!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N: For this story, I have made up how some Sohma's are related to each other. I don't actually know if Yuki is a child of one of Shigure's cousins or anything. (Though I know that Kyo is NOT related to Akito as I have them related in this story. It's not possible!)

**Chapter 4**

Kyo felt like an overcooked noodle with bruises all over. Not that noodles had bruises, but he didn't care. Sighing, he buried his nose in the silk by his cheek, thinking that his sheets smelled like strawberries for some reason. But why would they, he hadn't even seen strawberries since spring. Opening his eyes slightly, he found that his silk sheets weren't there, and the silky stuff his nose was buried in was a girl's long hair!

"What?" He asked in shock, jerking his head away. Looking at the person's face, he found it was Tohru, and memory returned. "Oh," he sighed in relief, settling back down. It was too cold in this predawn to be traveling. In fact, he just wanted to go back to sleep. But no, his brain had to start working. At the moment, it was thinking over yesterday's events, and he winced in guilt when he remembered knocking her out.

"Does my brain just _have_ to go over something that I don't particularly don't want to think about right now?" he thought in annoyance. Huffing, he turned on his side so he wouldn't have to look at Tohru's face. Now it felt like her eyes were staring at him. Turning over, he made sure that they weren't, but his brain wouldn't go back to sleep.

Finally he reached over and turned her so that he could see where he'd hit her head. Placing his hand on the spot, he felt around it to see if there was anything besides a bruise.

Sighing in relief, he settled down again, preparing to go back to sleep. Now that he knew she was fine, he could relax somewhat. His breathing evened out, and soon he was fast asleep again.

* * *

"So warm, and yet my back is chilly," was the only thought in Tohru's subconscious. Snuggling closer to this warmth, she felt something in the way around her stomach area. Because it was uncomfortable, she tugged it out from between her and the warmth. Sighing in relief, she was about to go back to complete unconsciousness, but a poof of smoke and the warmth disappearing woke her up entirely.

"Wha?" she asked groggily, sitting up. Seeing something wriggle under the blanket, she threw it off and scooted away in fear. But seeing only the orange cat from a day or so ago, she scooted back and replaced the blanket. It really was getting cold, she wouldn't be surprised if the stream was frozen over and there was snow on the ground! Huddling under the blanket entirely, she petted the cat.

"I wonder what you're doing here neko-san," she paused, before adding, "Oh! That's right, we never did figure on a new name for you!"

* * *

Kyo felt himself transforming, but ignored it; his wounds made him really tired to, not to mention cranky. When the warmth was suddenly removed, he hissed softly, but settled back down when it came back. Sighing, he figured there was no way he was going to sleep again for a while, and opened his eyes. Oh, right, this girl he'd kidnapped. Crap on a stick, he'd have to explain it now…

"- Never did figure out a new name for you!"

He blinked. "Yes we did, my name it Kyo, remember?" he said without thinking. Her eyes wide, she scrambled back from him. About to scream, she found Kyo's paws over her mouth, and red eyes glaring at her. "Don't scream, or you might need to be getting stitches in your lips," he hissed. She nodded frantically, shielding her eyes when there was another poof.

As Kyo once again got dressed, (outside the blanket, Tohru's hiding underneath) (and not even bothering to think about his wounds or bandages), he found his unfolded cloak, and put that on to, which lessened his shivering. He figured that she must've removed it, because even in sleep he knew better than that.

Turning back to her, he lifted a flap of the blanket and looked at her resignedly. Her brown eyes stared back at him in fear, and he grimaced. He should be used to seeing fear in others by now, but for some reason his heart felt like it was deprived.

"May I come back in?" he asked softly. Ack, the blush was back! Assassins didn't blush! They were cold-hearted unfeeling things that were fazed by nothing! She nodded stiffly, handing him some of the blanket.

"Thanks, it's really cold out right now," he said. He shouldn't be apologizing; she'd get the idea that he was a regular guy or something.

"I guess you're wondering why I turn into a cat," he began. She nodded hesitantly, and he sighed. "Somebody else should be doing this, like Shigure or Hatori," he muttered.

"Shigure-niisan?"

His head shot up, and he raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Are you talking about my step-brother, Shigure-niisan?" she elaborated.

Oh yeah, Shigure was related to her now, he'd forgotten that bit for a second.

"Yeah, I'm talking about that dog," he muttered.

"Dog? Oh, sorry, I shouldn't be prying," Tohru stuttered. She was confused right now, why would her stepbrother know anything about this?

"Just shut up already!" he snapped. She nodded and shut up quickly, looking very apologetic. "Look, sorry about that, I'm just a bit cranky, ok?" She nodded.

Scratching his head, he sighed. Where to start…

"Ok, have you ever heard that old Chinese legend, about how God invited all the animals to a banquet?"

"Oh yes! That was my favorite story when I was little! But I felt so sorry for the cat, I even said that I would stop being a dog and become a cat! If there was a year of the cat fan club, I would definitely be in it!"

Kyo's watched her talking, blushing even more when she said that stuff about how she loved the cat. Somehow it felt like his heart was warmer, and he felt something odd, something he didn't really know the name of.

"Kyo-san?"

He twitched at the –san. "Don't call me that! It makes me feel old, or respectable or something," he snapped.

She looked taken aback, but nodded. "I guess I'm just so used to being called Tohru-san, that I didn't think you'd mind it," she said by way of apology. He waved a hand, before saying, "Can I continue now?" She nodded quickly.

"So, in my family, there are certain people who're cursed by each of the animals from that animal, including the cat. Whenever we're hugged, or we get really weak, we transform into our respective animals."

"Oh, that the cat is included is good, isn't it?" Tohru asked.

"Well, not in this case. I'm kinda an outcast because I'm the cat. And it's all because of _that damn rat!" _He spat out the last bit scornfully. "Everybody's always talking about how great the children of the rat are. Yuki isn't all that great, he even has a sissy girly face!"

"Yuki-san?" Tohru questioned. "Are you talking about the Yuki-san who works for my grandfather?"

"Yes, THAT Yuki," Kyo said sullenly. "I hate being a Sohma."

"Sohma? As in the ruling family of this country?!" Tohru's eyes were wide from shock.

"Yeah, don't faint on me now. Yuki and Shigure are second cousins to each other, and there are some others that you don't know yet, but still. They're somehow my cousins to."

The part about Yuki being second cousin to Shigure she'd known, but that Kyo was related to them as well was mind-boggling! And the fact that they were part of THE Sohma family…! As her brain over loaded, she struggled to stay conscious, but failed miserably.

Looking outside, Kyo figured it was all right to travel now. Picking he up carefully again, he sped out the entrance and off in the direction of Sohma Castle.

* * *

"Akito?" Kureno asked, standing in the doorway.

"Yes?" Akito snapped. "Is Kyo back yet?" Kureno shook his head.

"You shouldn't worry so much, it could ruin your delicate health," Kureno said quietly, walking over to the still pacing Akito and trying to make her sit down. She sat down with a sigh, muttering, "You're right. I shouldn't worry over something like that monster." After a while, Kureno left the room, saying he would go check to see if Kyo was back yet.

* * *

Kyo was bone tired. His wounds were bleeding again, but Tohru had slipped on a slippery rock while walking, and was unconscious again. Couldn't she stay awake for an entire day? Well, he had knocked her out that one time...

Climbing up the dark staircase he used for missions, he wished that he'd insisted a bit more on carrying her when he felt better. But no, he'd felt that it wouldn't hurt to let her stretch her legs. He shook his head in disgust at himself. Now when he was tired, he couldn't just tell her to walk.

Great, there was the door. He opened it awkwardly, and dragged himself over to his bed. Dropping Tohru onto it, he knew she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

Walking over to his closet, he grabbed some new clothes, dumped the dirty ones down the laundry shoot, and walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

Kureno opened his door a few minutes after Kyo had gone into the bathroom. He looked around, and noticed that somebody was on the bed. Walking over, he found a girl wearing only a simple white night dress. Taking a picture out his pocket, he looked back and forth for a moment. Satisfied that Tohru Honda was here, he went back to tell Akito that Kyo was back.

Stepping out of the bathroom with his fresh clothes on, Kyo wearily walked over to the bed. He really just wanted to go to sleep, sleep until he couldn't sleep, and then sleep some more. But that wasn't an option until he'd reported to Akito. Sighing, he headed for Akito's room.

* * *

As I was writing this, the Fruits Basket theme song started playing, and it made me smile. It's such a pretty, meaningful, Fruba-ish song! Especially when you read the translated words to the song in Japanese!

Aaya is currently indisposed because Kyo scratched his face, and he's trying to cover it up.

Ja ne!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: From the few pictures that I've seen of her, I've only seen that Machi's hair is gray, so that's what I'll write it as, as well as her eye color. (I really can't remember if it is or not.)

(If you read my story I'm All Out of Love, I would like to say that I really only used her name, because I hadn't even 'met' her yet, I'd only heard the name. So really, don't think I don't like Machi!)

**Chapter 5**

"What took you so long?" Akito snapped, glaring at Kyo as he entered the room.

Kyo looked at her, before bowing. He looked up at her and said simply, "The healer Grandfather has some powerful things guarding his property. I was wounded by some of them, and was not able to travel as quickly."

Akito grimaced, but let him continue.

Bracing himself, he finished. "And…the girl found out about the curse."

"You lazy monster," she muttered. Hatori could easily erase her memory, she wouldn't get _too_ angry with this. No…she'd let her remember actually…

She leaned forward and pushed Kyo's sleeve up, finding barely healing gashes all over his arm.

She smirked, and commented, "Either the Grandfather is more powerful than you, or you were too confident." She sat back, thinking.

"You may go, but…" Akito smiled as she came up with a good punishment. "You have to keep this girl in the side room to your room and make sure she's kept comfortable and entertained. She is, after all, a very valuable hostage. We want her to cooperate, don't we?" Perfect, Kyo hated having to deal with people.

Kyo's face remained blank, but he was wondering why Akito chose _this_ for his punishment. He didn't question though, and left for his long awaited sleep.

"Call Ayame, Kureno. She can't go around in whatever he stole her in," Akito ordered lazily.

* * *

A knock sounded at the door, and growling in frustration I walked over to it and wrenched it open. Sometime today I was going to get some sleep!

"Hello Kyon-kichi!" Oh no. Not him, not now. I was about to slam the door in his face, but he was gone. It was too much to hope that he would be gone just because of my murderous expression, and not even saying goodbye.

"Do not worry fair lady, I shall make clothing for you so that you do not feel embarrassed and like you need to protect yourself from Kyo here! After all, being stuck here with him in this room must be," Aaya suddenly paused in his monologue, having finally noticed that Tohru was not awake.

"Kyon-kichi, this is absolutely atrocious. You did not tell me that the lady was asleep!" Ayame said indignantly.

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM YOU PSHCHO!!" I yell at him, hoping that volume will get him out of there quicker. I really should know better by now.

"Really Kyon-kichi! Is that anyways to act towards me, THE Charismic Clothing Designer? And you might wake this poor lady up!" Ayame said, looking highly affronted. I growled, stomped over to him and grabbed him, stomped to the still open door and threw him out of it.

"NEXT time wait until she's awake!" I snap, losing the energy to yell or even move quickly. As I slump against the door, effectively closing it, I can see something white in the quickly going black world. "If you're an angel…you've got the wrong monster."

* * *

I hear yelling, and the voice sounds like Kyo. I look up in time to see Kyo throwing something silver out the door. He slumps against the door, which worries me. I struggle off of the soft bed I'm on, and hurry over to him.

"If you're an angel…" I stop beside him, wondering what he's talking about. "…You've got the wrong monster." Monster? What is he talking about?

Suddenly he becomes a cat again, startling me. _Oh no, he really must be weak to transform like this!! Ah, what should I do, is he bleeding or anything? No? Well, maybe he just needs rest. Rest, the bed! Yes!_

I pick him up and carry him quickly to the bed I had just vacated. It didn't look like his wounds were open, it was probably just exhaustion, I reassure myself. He did carry me for a long time after all, and with his injuries as well.

What did he mean, that last bit he said? My nightdress explained that part about an Angel, because it was still white even with all the dirt stains. But monster? Did turning into a cat make him think he was a monster?

* * *

(Almost a month later)

"Akito?" Kureno sat down beside her. She turned towards him, an arched eyebrow giving him leave to speak.

"Instead of holding Honda Tohru captive, and telling her grandfather that he has to become allied with us, would it not be better to send him an offer of an alliance by marriage?"

"Kureno, I'm a female, and I don't want to be married to a man who isn't a blood descendant," Akito snapped.

"Why not then have another member of the family be the one?" Kureno suggested.

Akito thought for a moment, weighing things. "All right, we'll send her back. But who should be the one we offer?" she said finally. "Yuki is off with Shigure, wherever that dog went, so those two are out. What about Hatori?" Akito looked at Kureno, nodding decisively. "Hatori is a good choice, because he's a doctor, she's been trained as a healer…yes. We shall tell Hatori immediately."

Kureno inwardly sighed in relief, because he really didn't like this business of kidnapping. And to threaten a healer so powerful could not go well.

"I shall go take care of things," Kureno said as he stood up. Akito nodded, before sitting back. As the door closed, she sighed and stood up, and headed for the council room. It was a tiresome business really. At least she was only required to visit it about every two months; anything she needed to do in between that time was brought to her.

Opening the door, she stopped when she saw a young woman she didn't know. "Who're you, are you a maid?" She snapped.

The woman looked up slowly, her gray eyes making Akito step back, almost. It was almost like seeing Yuki with longer hair. Only this hair wasn't quite so silvery, and the eyes were a different color than his.

"I'm the new council member Akito-sama. I'm the replacement for Chiyo-baasama," Machi said respectfully, bowing.

Akito nodded curtly, before walking to her seat. She would watch this girl who looked so similar to Yuki…

* * *

Kyo opened his eyes slowly, seeing the familiar blood red canopy curtains, and silk black sheets. Sighing, he turned on his side, only to see the top of a head of brown hair. He grimaced and turned away. She really needed to stop sleeping in his room when he was gone on a job. But then, she was probably bored not being able to go anywhere but her room and his. A servant had probably been the one to give her the thread and cloth to embroider.

Tohru yawned, and he looked over at her, watching as her head rose from the edge of the bed. She turned and looked at him.

"Good morning Kyo-kun!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "I was really worried that it might be more than tiredness that made you collapse that way, I'm glad to see you up!"

Huh? Oh yeah, he'd just barely gotten through the door when everything went black…

"Hn." He looked back up at the ceiling, up at the picture of the twelve animals heading for the banquet, and the cat nowhere to be seen. Yet another reminder of why he wasn't an accepted member of the family. Wait a sec… He stood up quickly, not bothering to untangle himself from his blankets.

Beside his feet, Tohru 'eep!'ed and quickly turned around. He looked down at her curiously, only to find that only his blankets that were tangled around his waist and legs were covering him. His eyes darted to the secret doorway, and sure enough, his clothes were still there. Blushing, he leaped from the bed and put them on.

He turned to Tohru and muttered, "Sorry about that. I didn't realize…"

"Ah no! I really should have told you, or even, even…" she was blushing furiously now. "I mean, I'm a healer in training, I should get used to that type of thing, and-"

Kyo was covering her mouth with his hand; his head ducked from what might be tiredness or exasperation, but was really to cover his own blush. When she stopped, he removed it, trying hard not to think about what her mouth against his hand had felt like.

He walked back to his bed and stood on it again, looking at the picture. There was a little orange cat drawn on a piece of paper and tacked beside the picture.

"Oh that… I thought that I should try to fix up the picture a bit. When I have some more time and maybe the materials, I can actually draw him in there, but that piece of paper can serve as my reminder…" Tohru said timidly.

Kyo looked down at her in surprise. To his relief, he was only blushing lightly now. Sitting down he looked away, and asked gruffly, "Are you stupid…?"

Tohru was about to say something, but paused. After a moment, she only smiled and ducked her head.

"Whatever," he muttered, about to go back to sleep, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. As he walked over to it, he swore that if it was Aaya again that he'd…oh, it's Kureno.

"Yeah?" He rarely saw Kureno, barely knew anything about the guy. Akito kept him really close to her, and that alone made Kyo wary of him.

"I was asked to tell you that Akito has requested you to return Honda Tohru to her home," Kureno said, phrasing it carefully. He then turned and walked out of sight

* * *

"Ah, Tohru?" Kyo said hesitantly. She looked up at him, her smile trying to stay bright, but she was worried. "Yes?"

"I'm supposed to take you back home…" Kyo said finally.

"Oh! Really?" Tohru exclaimed. "I can see Uo and Hana again!" she smiled, but inwardly was depressed. She'd grown used to staying here with Kyo, greeting him when he came back, talking with him…

"What about the kimono's Ayame-san gave me? We don't have anything to carry them in…" Tohru asked.

Kyo grunted, and held up a traveling bag. Quietly she packed up her dresses; Kyo was waiting by the secret door. Looking around, she looked at Kyo and said, "Well, I'm ready!"

"Doofus, you'll need your coat!" Kyo said, digging it out of her bag. "It's cold outside!"

* * *

"Tohru should be coming home soon, right Hana?" Uo asked. "She was only visiting her relatives for a month."

Hana nodded slowly, a smile gracing her features. "Yes, I can hardly wait…"

* * *

So Tohru is going home, finally! And I'm feeling kind of sad after reading in chapter 76…because I know too much!! TT wants to yell at Kyo but understands him so she doesn't.

Ayame: I myself am in the dark, as are many of your readers. But as you are practicing restraint in blurting things out, I can tell you shall not enlighten us. How sad…

Please review, I really love them! (Plus you guys have been doing better at reviewing; last chapter is the second in reviews!! THANK YOU!! )

Aria-chan09


	6. Chapter 6

Hooray! Haru makes his appearance finally! His humor cracks me up, and even my oldest sister who doesn't read Fruits Basket, (but has seen him in passing when we watched the anime), thinks he's funny!

**Chapter 6  
**

"Tohru! You're back!" Uo yelled happily, running and catching Tohru in a crushing hug.

"Uo!" Tohru hugged back, ignoring that she felt like she was going to die from oxygen lack.

"Welcome back Tohru," a smiling Hana said, hugging Tohru, though not as hard as Uo had.

"Do my ears catch the sound of my lovely little flower's voice?" Shigure questioned, smiling as the group noticed him.

"Shigure-niisan!" Tohru said happily, running to him to hug him as well. But before she hugged him, she stopped, her eyes wide. "I almost forgot!" she whispered. Shigure was puzzled, wondering why he'd not had to find an excuse as to why she shouldn't hug him.

"Shigure-niisan, which year of the zodiac are you?" Tohru asked, startling them all. Hana and Uo were wondering where this had come from.

"Ah, I'm the dog," he said slowly. She surely couldn't have found out about the curse while she was away.

Tohru nodded happily, and before she turned away, she whispered, "I'm sure you're a very kawaii dog!" Shigure almost choked.

"_Kawaii? Not handsome, or dashing?" _

But _where_ had she found out? Akito should know about this, soon. Not that she'd look at anything he sent her… He sighed and went back to work on his latest novel.

* * *

Haru wandered around the army camp, extremely bored. He felt hungry…where was the food tent again?

"Captain!" a man yelled, running up to him through the slushy snow, and holding a scroll tube. He handed it to Haru, and explained, "This just came from the castle. Urgent delivery."

Haru opened the scroll and scanned it quickly. Rolling it up, he turned to the man and gave out orders to pack up. They were off to visit The Grandfather.

"Captain, North is that way," a man said an hour later as the soldiers started off.

* * *

"Who're you?" Uo asked curiously when she saw Haru wandering around the grounds. "You look like a soldier."

"I am a soldier," Haru said simply. "Have you seen the men I command? I was on my way back to them but became turned around in the grounds. A mystery…"

Uo laughed and pointing behind him said, "I think your soldiers are behind you." Haru turned, and caught a glimpse of them behind some low snow covered trees.

"Thank you," he said, and walked off.

Uo shook her head, and continued towards the cafeteria. She spotted Tohru walking along slowly, looking like she had just received some shocking news.

"Tohru!" Uo called out, jogging over to her. Tohru didn't seem to hear her, and kept walking. Frowning, Uo grabbed her arm and yelled, "TOHRU!!"

"UWA!" Tohru shrieked, throwing her hands up. "YES?"

"Tohru, didn't you hear me calling?" Uo asked curiously. Tohru shook her head, no.

"What's gotten into you anyways?"

"I...I'm getting married to a duke..."

"WHAT?!"

"And I'm leaving for Sohma Castle right away..."

"Oh my, I did not think that Tohru would be married so soon," Hana commented in surprise. "I shall of course, be coming along to meet him and make sure that he is suitable for you Tohru."

"I need to go and repack my things," Tohru murmured, and immediately her two friends volunteered to help.

"So…Tohru. When do I need to be ready to leave?" Uo asked.

"Eh? Uo-chan, you're coming to?"

"I don't see why not! I myself will be coming, along with Yuki! And Mayu-chan will be coming along as well…" Shigure said, appearing suddenly. Tohru's eyes rolled back as she fainted. This really was too much for her to handle.

* * *

"Akito-sama, the healer Grandfather has sent his reply. He has agreed to give his granddaughter's hand in marriage to Hatori Sohma. The only stipulation is that she is able to have a say in if she marries or not. But also, he has added that he is helping our soldiers already, as a good faith gift."

Akito pursed her lips, but that the Grandfather had agreed to it at all, _and_ started helping her already, was good. He had refused offers from other prestigious people before. She nodded, and business continued.

* * *

"Kyon-kichi! Where is Tohru?" Ayame asked, coming upon Kyo as he walked through the castle hallways.

"I took her back," Kyo snapped, and made shooing motions.

Aaya didn't notice of course. "But I had something I made especially for her!" Aaya said in disappointment. Suddenly he brightened, and reached into his pocket.

"Here, you can give this to her next time you go out!" Aaya said happily. "Ta-ta!"

Kyo looked down at the thing in his hand, to find that it was embroidery. Around the edge were some kittens, some leaves, and whatnot. In the middle there were some words.

_True love is like a circle, it never ends._

Beneath it was Tohru's name in a curve, like the top of a circle.

"What the hell is this?" Kyo demanded, running after Aaya and grabbing his shoulder.

"REALLY Kyon-kichi, you shouldn't be so rude!" Aaya reprimanded, and straightened out his stylish overcoat.

"What the heck is this?" Kyo demanded.

"THAT happens to be something I made for Tohru. When she finds her true love, I shall embroider his name in a curve with hers, making a complete circle."

"What the hell makes you think that she'll be finding her true love anytime soon? And why a circle, shouldn't it be a heart or something?" Kyo asked. The last part was true curiosity.

"Well, she isn't a young girl anymore!" Aaya said, and smiled at Kyo like he knew something Kyo didn't. "And like the words say, a circle goes on forever! A heart does not. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work!"

Kyo snorted at the parting comment, but gently folded up the fabric and placed it into his pocket.

"_That annoying snake should really wait until she falls in love before he gives her something like this. Unless she already has somebody…" _Kyo ignored the twinge of something suspiciously like jealously. He had no reason to be jealous; hell, he didn't even like her…. like that anyways.

As he continued towards his room, he realized that he hadn't even protested, that he'd automatically silently agreed to take it.

* * *

"Mayu-san! Don't you just love the scenery?" Tohru asked excitedly, clapping her hands. The last time she'd been in this particular area, she'd been too busy trying not to blush because Kyo was carrying her bridal style to travel faster; she never had gotten entirely used to it.

"Yes, it is very lovely isn't it?" Mayu said, smiling back. "Oh look! There's some, some…" she trailed off for a moment, before coming up with the name of the healing herb.

The group was silent for a moment, before some smiled in relief. It was good that she was remembering plants names.

"Mayu-san, do you know what that herb is useful for?" Tohru asked. Mayu nodded slowly, and began to list some uses, getting more confident as she continued.

"Oh! Look! There's Sohma Castle!" Uo said excitedly, pointing, not caring that it was rude to point.

Tohru nodded, nervousness filling her heart. Would she see Kyo again? He hadn't seemed to be out of his room except on missions… She shook her head and forced herself to not think about anything. She was engaged now, and should act as such. Her grandfather had been about to mention something, but had been called away before he could tell her.

Looking to the side, she spotted her stepbrother Shigure, talking with Yuki. Oh no, it didn't look like Yuki was too happy, but Shigure seemed to be enjoying himself…

Looking back at the castle she gulped, closed her eyes, and started to talk to her mother; talking with her mother calmed her down most of the time.

* * *

Kyo glanced out of the stable windows, pausing slightly in his work. It looked like a group of people had just arrived. To his surprise, he recognized some of them. Shigure, Yuki, Ritsu, (So that's where he'd gotten to), and wait, there were those two girls from that one night when he kidnapped Tohru. And there was Tohru herself, talking with a woman he didn't know. His heart lurched, before it began to beat slightly faster.

He snapped back to his work, and tried to shove out the annoying thoughts he was having. No, he was NOT happy to see her. No he didn't care if she was doing well. And _no_, he was NOT going to talk to her.

The other stable hand looked at him curiously when he started muttering something furiously under his breath. He hadn't seemed upset earlier, and nobody had said anything to him. He'd just glanced out the window… Looking out the window himself, he caught a glimpse of silvery hair, and smiled inwardly. No wonder.

* * *

Hatori silently listened as Akito explained that he was now engaged to a girl named Tohru Honda. He personally had no wish to marry; he was all right with only his memories of Kana.

But, if it was royal command, who was he to object. Akito smiled at him, before beckoning him over to the window. She pointed down into the courtyard, at a girl with brown hair.

Wait. Was that Mayu? Shiraki Mayuko? He blinked, before murmuring to Akito that, as requested, he would be waiting in the library at the appointed time, about a week or so after today.

* * *

"Yo. Kyo. Go get their horses," the man over Kyo said, jerking a thumb out the door. Kyo shook his head and continued working. The man grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him out of the stable doors. He landed in the courtyard, but not in an undignified, sprawling heap. He had tucked himself into a ball and landed on his feet.

Yuki spared him a glance, smirked, and continued on to the doors. Shigure said something about Kyo finally gaining a cat's grace, while Ritsu apologized to Kyo for Kyo's being thrown out the doors. As Shigure poked Ritsu in the side, Uo and Mayu looked for a moment while Hana said that he had very chaotic waves.

Tohru, who'd been about to go over to him stopped when she saw that he'd landed on his feet, and then became rooted to the spot when she realized whom it was.

"K…yo…. Kun?" she whispered, her eyes wide. Kyo stiffened at her voice, but simply began to take care of their horses.

She stood for a short moment, biting her lip. Finally Tohru turned away and followed her friends inside, glancing back only once. Her gaze met the crimson one of Kyo's, and she offered a small smile. She could have sworn that his mouth twitched before he turned away. She continued on her way smiling.

Kyo though, had to hide his face for a while, to hide his annoying habit of blushing.

* * *

No comment as of now…I'm a bit ticked at all the stories I've read lately. Just when I get to a cliffhanger, I am forced to stop, and I have to worry so badly!

Well, ja ne, until next time!

Ayame: Please be generous with your lovely comments on this story, for I shall surely be put in more if you do! EVERY story needs my charisma to make it complete!


	7. Chapter 7

You're legs fall off first, then your arms, and you feel the 'glorious' burn, it's track, wonderful track, glorious track, SUPER SPLENDIFEROUS TRACK!!

Ok, so it wasn't so bad when it didn't hurt, it was actually easy, but I was bored on the loooooong walk home! (Which was so tortuous, I'd just exercised for 2 &1/2 hours.) But I'm glad, this is the first sport I've ever participated in, and it's not as hard as I'd thought!

**Chapter 7**

"YUKI!" Aaya exclaimed, throwing himself onto his younger brother; or tried to at least. Yuki stepped out of the way, and greeted Mine, before walking onto the council room. Manabe didn't follow, being to engrossed in greeting Ayame.

Opening the door, he found only one woman there.

"Ah…" He said, wondering what she was doing there.

"I'm sorry, I'll clean it up…" she said, cleaning up the mess of papers on the floor.

"Hallo Machi!" Manabe yelled from behind Yuki. Suddenly Yuki was being hugged to Ayame, and couldn't breathe.

"Get. Off. Me. You. Ba-ka!" Yuki bit out, elbowing his brother in the stomach.

"Is that any way to treat your older brother?" Aya complained, seemingly not affected at all by the elbowing.

"Machi, meet Yuki Sohma," Manabe was saying. Machi remained silent, but nodded.

* * *

Mayu smiled, sitting in front of Tohru and helping her with her Culinary Arts. The girl was a great cook, but this was all technical details.

"Is a duck lighter than a turkey or chicken of the same size?"

Tohru thought for a second before nodding vigorously.

"Great job Tohru!" Uo said happily. A knock at the door silenced them all, before Hana answered it. She talked quietly for a moment, before closing the door.

"Tohru-kun and her chaperone are to meet her fiancé in the library after lunch today," she said slowly. They resumed their activities, but now there was a tension hanging in the air.

* * *

Hatori sat silently in the library, waiting. He wasn't dissatisfied with his life as it was. His memories of Kana were enough; he didn't need anything else. Idly he wondered how Mayu was doing, and if it really had been her he'd seen.

The door opened, a servant showing Tohru and Mayu in. He stood as the door was closed, and walked over slowly. The servant murmured introductions, before bowing out of the room.

Mayu was looking at him in an indifferent way. Why? She didn't even look like she recognized him. Still puzzled, he turned to his new fiancé.

She was looking at him, eyes slightly wide. Mayu nudged her, and she seemed to realize that she was staring. She quickly averted her eyes.

Hatori-san is so intimidating! The sun behind him, and he's so _tall_! Oh, it's rude to stare!

As Mayu looked at Hatori, she felt that she knew him. But she also had the feeling that seeing him was a bittersweet pain. She couldn't figure out why, but she _had_ lost her memories, so it shouldn't be a surprise. The fact that she knew him though, she must be of higher rank than she'd thought.

Suddenly the door burst open, and Ayame stood there, smiling happily. Rushing over to Tohru, he took her hand.

"Tohru! How delightful to see you again, it really has been too long!" Hatori stood, used to this. Mayu had a vague memory returning to her, which became clearer as Shigure appeared on the scene.

These three men all sat around a low table, drinking sake. Kana was there as well…

"Mayu-chan! It's delightful to see you again as well!" Aaya exclaimed, grasping her hands. She smiled hesitantly at him, confused.

"Ah, Mayu-san has lost her memory Ayame-san," Tohru said quietly.

"It's not like I don't remember everything, I just remembered the four of us and Kana sitting around a table drinking sake," Mayu said quickly, a small smile on her face.

Ayame laughed delightedly. "Well, I am sure that with me around, you shall certainly remember everything you ever knew!" He proclaimed. _Because he is the king!_ Mayu thought in amusement, chuckling at the remembered joke.

Tohru had been inching towards the closest door as they talked, and bolted out the door without being noticed. It led to the gardens, and the hedge mazes. Somehow, even at this time of the year, they were still blooming as if it was summer! Plus, it felt like summer in the gardens, which was lucky for her, as she wasn't dressed for the outside. It must be some bit of magic…

Turning right because she knew she'd probably get lost in the maze, she suddenly found herself in a square area with mats spread over the ground. A training master with gray hair was currently rolling them up, and watching a single student out of the corner of her eye.

Watching the student practice kicks, blocks and punches, she didn't really notice the color of his hair. That is, until he turned to his instructor and asked him a question, and she realized it was no student. Her mind froze, before it began working _very_ slowly.

"_That…that _voice!_ I know it… And the hair! Oh mother, what should I do?"_

No longer working slowly, her brain was in overdrive and tripping over itself!

"_Say hello you idiot! But wait; maybe he doesn't WANT me to talk to him? But what if he thinks I'm rude and actually _does_ want to talk to me?"_

As her thoughts scrambled around in her head, she had begun to stumble backwards. She was about to just turn and run, when she tripped. With a small gasp, she fell down on her rear end. Automatically she said "Ouch!"

The two men looked over at her, startled and blushing, she scrambled up. Turning, she ran the opposite direction, and down the path that began the hedge maze.

Kazuma looked at Kyo, and saw his head was bent towards the ground, his hands clenched together. He looked up at Kazuma stiffly, bowed, and hurried after Tohru. He hadn't seen her face very well, but well…nobody tripped like Tohru, not to mention if had been any other girl they would've expected him to help her up.

"Kyo…?" Kazuma asked curiously. Kyo stopped short before reaching into his pocket. At least Ayame was good for one thing he thought ruefully.

"Aaya wanted me to give this to that girl," he explained, before turning and racing after Tohru again. She was going to get lost in there, so he might as well save everybody some trouble.

He didn't notice as he rushed past an area of blackness, but Hanajima certainly noticed the wind and quick flash of orange. She chuckled and continued onwards. These waves over here…they intrigued her.

Turning into the training area, she found Kazuma, and her first thought was, "What a hunk."

* * *

Tohru stopped running, panting. Looking behind her, she found to her relief that nobody was there. Well, as long as she was here, she might as well admire the flowers. She was admiring a rose at the side of the path when she realized that, though the arrangement of hedges hid it, there was a pathway here. It wasn't as wide as the path she was on, only having room for about two people side by side with an inch between them.

Curious, she wandered in, in the back of her mind thinking that if anybody tried to find her, they probably wouldn't find her in here. It curved around in a circle once. In the middle, there was a bench, looking at a statue.

Wondering why it was so shady, she found that a framework held up some pretty, flowered vines, creating the shade. Sitting down, she admired the cat statue. A random ray of light sparkled off something under its eyes, and looking closer, she realized that the cat was crying diamond tears.

"Oh how sad!" she whispered quietly. Things here seemed to be about the cat of the zodiac frequently, and all of it about how the cat wasn't included. She was so busy contemplating everything that she didn't notice Kyo walk around the bend, or sit down by her feet. They sat like that for a while.

"I know you like the cat and all, but it's not anything to cry about or nothing," he muttered finally, standing up. She started, surprised to find her tears being wiped away by a handkerchief.

"Kyo-kun…" she said faintly.

"Yeah?" he asked, pocketing the black cotton. She scooted over on the seat, and he sat down. Immediately they both thought it had been a mistake, because it didn't have enough space to let them sit without touching each other. They both blushed and looked away, but didn't move for fear of being rude.

"So you're getting married to Hatori huh," Kyo muttered. Tohru nodded slightly.

"He's so…intimidating!" she managed.

Kyo chuckled. "That's Hatori." For a few moments he was silent. "He's not so bad I guess..."

Tohru nodded dumbly again.

They sat in silence again before Kyo finally said frustrated, "Look, I barely know him, it's not like I can tell you it'll be all right or anything. For all I know, he'll," He stopped, remembering whom he was talking to, and that he didn't want to scare her.

"Forget I said anything," he muttered. He stood up and walked away, too distracted to hear Tohru calling him.

"Wait Kyo-kun!" Tohru said, standing up. She tripped and fell on her face. Groaning, she looked at the cat's feet that were in front of her face. Scrambling up, she hurried to catch up to him.

Kyo stormed quickly away from Tohru, away from confusion. He hadn't worried too much when kidnapping her, had only passing thoughts of vague worry when he was supposed to take care of her.

Now he might be in trouble. Scratch that, he _was_ in trouble. Sit next to her, and he became a confused teenager with strange, strong emotions. People like him did NOT have emotions! He didn't even know what they meant.

And what if they happened to actually know? Well then, they didn't deserve them, knew it, and so quashed them, (though it was harder than it sounded.) Problem solved, everybody else is happy and he doesn't have any trouble.

He had to stay concentrated on his work, not on quashing stupid emotions. Therefore, stay away from Tohru!

* * *

"Kureno…" Akito said smoothly, drawing his name out slightly. Kureno smiled at her hesitatingly. That voice could mean anything.

Akito was tapping her chin. "Ah yes. You know of course, that the Honda girl has brought companions. Seek out the one named _Arisa Uotani_." Akito said the name as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "Befriend her, get into her good graces. Try to make it so that you can help her influence the Honda girl. I want to make _sure _we have an alliance with her grandfather."

Kureno slowly nodded. As he turned to leave, he recalled the earlier encounter he'd had with Uo.

_On his was to his own room, he was carrying a stack of books from the library, and couldn't see in front of him. He bumped into somebody and peered around the books._

_A blond girl stood there, looking at him defiantly._

"_Pardon me…?" he said, asking her why she was in this particular area of the castle. She didn't exactly look like a maid, or a party of the Honda group. And the Honda group was the next hallway down to. This part was reserved for him alone, though the stairway at the end led to Kyo's room._

"_I didn't get lost!" Uo said the first thing on her mind, and inwardly bashed herself over the head. Best indirect way (number 1) to tell a person _exactly_ what you did, er, _didn't_ do. She just got distracted by the intricate weapons shown on the tapestries, and didn't pay attention to where she was going. _

"_Ah, of course," Kureno murmured. Well, it was possible she was just admiring the tapestries…of weapons. He didn't think that was normal for women, but who knew?_

_Uo inspected him for a while, before sticking out her hand. "Name's Uotani. Uotani Arisa. Call me Uo."_

_He shifted the books and shook her hand, feeling calluses. Where had she gotten them?_

_Suddenly the books lost their balance, and toppled off of his arm. They both instinctively jumped back, nimble footwork learned over years of time saving their toes_

_She laughed._

Now that laughter resonated in Kureno's mind. He smiled slightly, the smile growing to match the one that he'd given her in return. So she _was_ a m

* * *

Preeety please review?

_**NEWS FLASH!**__ An epidemic has been running rampant throughout for some time now, as you may know! It is rendering people unable to review! Immunize yourselves now, and do not fall prey to this inability to review!_

Aria-chan09


	8. Chapter 8

10! Reviews for the last chapter! That's the most reviews for a chapter since the first chapter! dizziness!

BTW: I would absolutely LOVE to answer every single review, but I can't answer anonymous reviewers unless they provide a way… sigh

THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR WONDERFUL REVIEWS!

**Chapter 8**

"Haru…" Rin said warningly, backing away. She had her work to do; she planned the meals and organized cleaning.

But that wasn't all… Akito as well had pushed her out of a window because _she_ didn't want Haru and Rin together.

If she couldn't keep Haru safe, then she shouldn't be with him, was the main thought in Rin's head.

He advanced still, until finally he could hug her.

"Rin…" he sighed, squeezing her tightly. "Was I wrong? Did I not understand something…?

"No, don't, please!" she begged, trying to get away. Unfortunately luck wasn't with her, and Akito walked around the corner.

"Oh, and what have we here…?" she asked, a slow smile curling cruelly on her mouth. She walked slowly towards them, asking slowly, "Did I not understand things Rin?" Akito asked, slowly reaching out a hand towards them.

"No…NO! DON'T HURT HIM AKITO, DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Rin burst out. She begged, struggling to get away from Haru to protect him.

"It was me, it was," she choked out the words. "it was my fault, not his!"

Haru frowned, looking at her and Akito.

"What's your fault not mine?"

Akito snickered and walked past, sneering, "Well, it seems you two need to talk it out, so I'll leave you here. But don't think I'm finished with you…"

"What was that about Rin?"

She smacked him, then stormed off, Haru getting up and following her.

* * *

Kyo watched as a mass of midnight blue dress fell forwards in front of him, auburn hair falling out of its restraints and around the girl's shoulders. He grabbed one of the flailing hands and hauled her into a standing position. Tohru thanked him breathlessly, trying to put her hair back in some order.

Finally, with bobby pins in her mouth, and hands moving deftly through her hair and depositing pins in their proper places, she looked at him. "Oh, thank goodness, I found you Kyo-kun!" she exclaimed, somehow not dropping any of the pins from her mouth, and able to talk without sounding any different. "I'm afraid that I have no idea how to get out of here; I've been trying all afternoon ever since you left so suddenly."

Kyo looked at the sky, and saw the dark blue closing in on the almost complete sunset. He hadn't realized how long he'd been storming around. Looking at her thin, short sleeve, he knew she had to be cold. Even though the spell kept the garden warm, it wouldn't at night. Offering his coat was the proper thing to do, but he sure as hell wasn't proper. Let her freeze he thought rebelliously, walking off towards the entrance, Tohru following.

Now where was he? This maze was huge, having 16 parts that were similar but not identical. He had no idea which part he was in, and he couldn't ignore Tohru's chattering teeth much longer.

Sighing, he jumped to the top of the hedge, throwing his wadded up coat down on top of Tohru as he did so. She squeaked as he looked around. Satisfied that he knew where he was, he jumped down, debating on whether to jump out, with out without her in his arms, or to just lead her out.

He was so preoccupied he wasn't looking where he was jumping as well as he should have, and it didn't help that Tohru's dress blended in with the dark. As he landed on her, he cursed his wandering mind. _This_ was another reason he shouldn't be attracted to her. She made him lose his concentration, and he didn't have his brain thinking about his surroundings, as he should.

He looked down at Tohru, his arms holding him off of her. He eyes were wide, and reflecting the starry sky above.

"_Uh-oh. Uh-oh uh-oh uh-oh,"_ was all Kyo's distracted brain could think of, as they stared at each other.

* * *

Uo paced around their chambers worriedly. Tohru wasn't back from meeting her fiancé, and neither was Mayu. It was dark outside; they should be back by now! Argh… if that guy did anything to Tohru, he wouldn't live to see his wedding day, and the wedding certainly wouldn't be to Tohru!

A knock at the door had her racing towards it. Opening it quickly, she exclaimed, "Finally!" About to hug Tohru, she found instead the guy from when she'd been distracted'. Oooh…She stared at him blankly for a moment. He bowed, and said, "Uotani-san, I came to request a walk tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah. Sure," she said, still gathering her mind back. He was about to leave when she remembered something. "Oh, and don't call me Uotani-san please."

"Very well Arisa…" Kureno said slowly, silently asking if this name was all right. She nodded quickly, and after he left slumped against the door. To her surprise, she was blushing. Nobody called her Arisa except Hana, because she didn't like it. But… him saying it made it sound well, different. She ignored this of course; time to think that out later.

But, she wouldn't deny that she had wanted to see him again, REALLY badly. Standing up, she brushed off her skirts and went to see if she had anything to wear that wasn't her normal training or work clothing. Usually she wouldn't, but hadn't the seamstress insisted on making her at least 1 formal dress for a dinner or something?

* * *

Yuki stretched, watching the other council members walk out the door, and slowly following them. He'd been welcomed back graciously, but with some discreet questions as to why he had left. Yes, being on the Grandfather's council was a good position, equal to if not higher than theirs… but to leave Akito-sama!

He was rubbing his eyes when he heard some female courtiers talking to Machi. Well, actually having a shared monologue of their 'instructions.'

"Hey bitch, don't go stealing our Yuki. The prince has no interest in the likes of you, and deserves better."

"This doesn't mean I have to stay away from him…" Machi said sensibly. "And have you ever thought that doing things like this limits the people he has around him?"

The others blustered. "But this only means that the people are more suitable for him to be around! It's for his own good!"

"Still, he seems lonely to me."

The other girls were hissing angrily, when Manabe suddenly came by.

"Hallo ladies, I have some important information you might be interested in. Yuki-san is waiting on the terrace outside the library, feeling particularly _ah, lonely." _He paused significantly, before continuing in a very dramatic way.

"He commented that he was so desperate, the first woman he saw that was available he would, ah, show interest in, to put it delicately."

The two other ladies almost shrieked and hurried away, Manabe chuckling under his breath.

"So Machi, how's life treating you being on _The_ Council?" Manabe asked amiably. Yuki didn't hear Machi asking what that was about, and Manabe explaining that he'd felt like teasing Yuki and saving her was only a part of it. He only walked over, before stopping by Manabe.

"You," he snapped, glaring at Manabe. "Don't go telling lies about me like that."

"Oh my, does Princess Yuki want her reputation -HEY! Owww, leggo, that _hurts_!" Manabe whined. Yuki had him by the ear and was dragging him away.

Yuki muttered something under his breath as they neared the wing the entire group was in. Manabe, who'd been taking a breath in between his whining, heard it.

"Thanks… for saving Machi from those people…" Manabe only grinned, and rubbed his ear as Yuki released it.

"I want a written apology on my night table tomorrow morning!" Manabe called cheerfully. A shut door answered him.

* * *

They were still frozen in place, staring at each other. He swallowed, and felt his arms shaking slightly..

A shadow flew overhead, reflecting in Tohru's eyes, and bringing Kyo away from his own thoughts. He jumped up silently, looking all around as he grabbed Tohru in his arms, while still managing to keep her from getting too close. Crap, another shadow was coming towards them on the ground, so they couldn't hide on the ground.

There. He jumped up and went the opposite direction, which was unluckily, not towards the castle.

Tohru had her arms around his neck, and watching his face as he jumped from hedge to hedge. Abruptly he stopped and she felt his legs tensing. Suddenly "WOOSH!" up they went, into the treetops.

She would've clutched his neck tighter normally, but she was too afraid that he'd transform. This was scary, why were they running away from the castle?

An arrow thudded in the tree trunk ahead of them, and her eyes widened. Kyo turned, and went another way, than another, finally she didn't know what way was which, unless it was up or down. Eventually they started slowing down, until they weren't moving at all. They sat that way for a while, before Kyo began moving again, still silent.

To her surprise, they weren't that far from the castle anymore, and soon she was on her balcony for her room. She sneezed, and he handed her a handkerchief, which startled her; he hadn't seemed the type to do that.

She turned to thank him, but he'd gone already, maybe to fight off those others. Sighing she walked through the door, and managed to convince Uo that she was all right.

* * *

(Next Day)

"GET OUT!" Akito shrieked, throwing books at Shigure's head. He'd finally found time and the way to talk to Akito. But he needed to tell her that Tohru knew about the curse!

Walking slowly towards her, he ducked yet another book, before grabbing her as she ran away.

Akito turned and started hitting him as he held her. Slowly she stopped, and glaring up at him hissed, "I thought I told you to leave."

"And so I left," Shigure said, a grave look on his face.

"I meant stay away!" Akito angrily burst out, tears leaking out. "If you're going to do stuff like what you did, then don't bother coming back to me!"

Shigure sighed, rubbing her back. "I told you, I never stop thinking about you." Akito didn't respond.

Kureno who'd been about to tell Akito where he was going stopped in the doorway. After backing out of the room, he reached in his pocket and wrote Akito a note, leaving it on the table just inside the door.

Though Shigure noticed, he didn't say anything, and Kureno smiled half-heartedly at him. Shigure wasn't happy with Kureno, but then, Shigure himself had been the one who'd started this whole entire mess. So maybe Akito and he could apologize to each other, and then there would be no one else…

* * *

"So, how old are you?" Uo asked Kureno as they walked through a part of the gardens. Turned out that she couldn't find her formal dress, but she DID have a nicer looking regular day outfit.

"I'm 26," Kureno replied, plucking a daisy and handing it to her.

As she twirled it in her fingers, she asked incredulously, "A _daisy?_"

He looked startled. "Do you not like daisies?" he asked, a bit apprehensive. He didn't know that much about being with women, Akito usually kept him close.

"Daisies are so childish!" Uo said, pretending to be disgusted. But when Kureno looked truly worried, she stopped.

"I was kidding, I love daisies. They remind me of Tohru kind of," Uo told him, and he sighed in relief.

"Sorry, I've never really interacted with many women," he said sheepishly. He had been with Akito, but she wasn't the regular woman; at least he hoped she wasn't.

"WHAT!" Uo yelped, stopping. "YOU'RE A 26 YEAR OLD MAN AT COURT. HOW HAVE YOU _NOT_ INTERACTED WITH MANY WOMEN?"

Kureno was silent for a while, before handing her another daisy and saying, "It's just how it is."

Uo was startled by the daisy and demanded abruptly, "Are flowers you're way of apologizing?"

Kureno laughed, genuinely laughed. "I've never thought of it, but then, Akito loves flowers so when I annoy her I give her flowers!"

Uo, who'd been smiling, suddenly frowned. "Akito? As in the king?" She asked, confused. Akito was the name of the king, but he'd said 'her'. And it was kinda weird to give flowers to a guy, even a king.

"That is her jo-" Kureno stopped, and tried to find a word to replace job with. But Uo interrupted.

"You're telling me Akito is a girl?" Uo demanded fiercely in a whisper. This also told her that he was very close with Akito…

Kureno was so used to telling Akito everything he knew, and he was so comfortable with Uo that he'd slipped. What had happened there; he was usually extremely careful! He grabbed her hands and looking at her earnestly, begged.

"_Please_, don't tell anybody. Not one person. If anybody finds out, think of the uproar it would cause. Akito wouldn't be king anymore, and then…" Kureno stopped, unable to continue without revealing even more information that even only _he_ knew, not even Akito knew this. It _was_ written down, but nobody really bothered to read those types of things.

"And then who'd be king? A civil war could happen, or maybe the other country takes control…" Uo's face was pale at the prospect. Shaking her head, she firmly shook his hands, saying, "Don't worry, I won't breathe a word, not even to my diary!"

She laughed at his startled look, effectively breaking the tension, and said, "I _do_ have a diary, but I hardly write in it."

Slowly they began walking again.

"My father's a disgraced marquis. Just so you know…"

Kureno smiled, and informed her, "I'm an earl that everybody thought was stupid because I wouldn't talk and was ordered around too easily. That's why I was put close to Akito."

"You let people push you around?" she asked, startled.

"Well, I'm more of a peacemaker person," he explained, smiling.

"Huh," was all she said.

She spotted Kyo from a distance, walking a horse around. Her first thought was that he was the heartless fire, but then she realized it couldn't be so. This was the king's castle, and the heartless fire wouldn't be walking a horse here.

* * *

Ayame: I hardly have any part in this story! Aria-chan, what are you thinking!

Ah, Ayame-san, you may not be very active now, but you have a part next chapter! (I believe, I need to check...)

Aaya: Well that is all right then! My charisma shall _... blah blah blah...  
_

Please review! Pretty pretty please? We've been doing SO WELL!

Aria-chan09


	9. Chapter 9

**isclaimer: **I don't own all these characters or the story, just the plot. Muahahaha, they are all pawns in my plot to make them all have a happily FOREVER!! Imagine that, a person MAKING you have fun. _Shudders_

**Chapter 9**

"Kazuma-dono." Kazuma kneeled, and waited for Akito to continue. "It has come to my attention that Hanajima-san and you became acquainted. I would like to you further this acquaintance. You may go." Dismissed, Kazuma walked to his room, glad that it wasn't anything concerning Kyo.

Well, Hana-chan certainly was interestingly refreshing; she'd even asked if he would teach her about the history of martial arts and their techniques. He didn't mind continuing the acquaintance; he just couldn't trust Akito's stability, or plans. It was something to keep in the back of his mind.

* * *

"So Tohru, are you going to start sighing forlornly after the guy you like, whilst clutching a keepsake?" Uo teased, sitting next to Tohru on the bench. They were on the balcony off their rooms, looking over the gardens. The balcony was out of the way of the wind, and they were both wearing warm coats. Tohru had been sitting there staring out blankly, fingering the black handkerchief Kyo had given to her.

"Eh?" Oh no! Really, I'm not Uo-chan!" Tohru protested, her eyes wide. Hana and Mayu, who had sat down beside Uo smiled. Uo put an arm around Mayu's shoulders and said with a smirk, "The fair lady doth protest too much! It's love all right!"

Mayu grinned back, saying, "Ah, and just what else has she not told us?"

Tohru had dropped the handkerchief now, and was almost crying in frustration. "I tell you, it's not true! It's all a misunderstanding!"

Hana, seeing the tears hugged her and said, "It's all right Tohru, they are just teasing you."

"I'm sorry to Tohru," Uo said, picking up the handkerchief. "Who's is this? That Hatori dude's?"

"No," Tohru took it shaking her head. "It's just something I need to return to a friend…" Hana remained silent, having a very good idea about everything.

"Speaking of Hatori, how are things going between you two?" Uo asked curiously. She herself had been busy these past three weeks, training, learning new things, and talking to Kureno when he wasn't busy.

Tohru was silent, thinking. Whenever she had been with Hatori-san and with Mayu at the same time, she couldn't help but notice that Mayu seemed to stare at Hatori a lot. And when she'd described this all to Hana, Hana had told her that Mayu was remembering things, mostly about Hatori, and that she was attracted to him.

"Earth to Tohru…" Uo said, waving her hands in front of Tohru's face.

"Eh? Oh… I'm still having a hard time getting comfortable with him," Tohru said quietly, hanging her head in shame. "I know that we'll be married, but…"

"I get it. He's just not your type." Uo sighed, putting her hands on her knees, chin in her hands.

Tohru looked at Mayu, who was lost in her own thoughts. She went to go walk in the gardens, after retrieving the handkerchief from Uo.

She actually didn't _want_ to marry Hatori-san, especially since Mayu-sensei seemed to have feelings for him.

She took a piece of paper out of her pocket, and walked over to the entrance of the maze nearest to her. Following the paper's instructions, she was able to find the place where the cat statue was. She didn't know why she liked it there, except maybe the fact that it was secluded from eyes even above, and she wouldn't be disturbed here. It was also where Kyo had found her, now that she allowed herself to think about it.

Kyo hadn't been present for a while now. She usually would see him working around the castle every few days, but there'd been no sign of him for a while now.

Finding the place, she sat down again, drawing her knees up and resting her chin on them. Staring up at the afternoon sky, she finally admitted to herself that she was attracted to Kyo. But, she couldn't be attracted to him that was very rude to Hatori-san!

Still staring at the sky, she felt her eyes burning, and wiped them away quickly. Duty was duty, and she would do her duty. Her chin quivered, but she quickly stilled it. She stayed there for a while, feeling comforted by the peace and beauty here. Eventually, she fell asleep.

* * *

Kyo wiped the sweat away from his forehead before it could freeze there, grinning at the prospect of a more challenging activity. Despite it being so cold, he was quite warm from running around all day. He leaped from his tree, and sneaked up behind the guard quickly, so that it was hard to even see him flashing by. He then struck the man on the head, knocking him out.

Walking cautiously to the door, he frowned, disappointed that the place was so unguarded. And here he'd thought he'd have a chance to exercise his smarts. Snorting in disgust at this poor display of how valued the information was, he opened his coat, stuffed the papers in a pocket, and closed the armored coat back up. Leaping out the door, he relished in the thought of a warm bath when he got back.

This group of spies on them was closer to the castle than he'd expected, but extremely hard to track due to some magical workings. From all the work he'd done, he'd expected more than one person… Ah. There they were, looking over the castle grounds; in broad daylight to, the idiots. The enemy king must be one of the people who sent the young idiot with only a few smart ones over them out.

As he was about to slice one in half, he suddenly had the urge not to. Instead he knocked him out, and tied him up, using his own spell of binding. It was the same with all the others, and he couldn't figure it out. He had never really liked killing, but had been able to make himself do it previously.

As he dragged the men to jail to be kept as prisoners of war, the task taking a few days, and reported to Akito, he berated himself, and tried to find the reason why. Akito, who didn't mind either way if he killed them or not, didn't seem to notice his turmoil.

He was still puzzling about it when he found himself staring at a sleeping Tohru, on the bench from before. Her head would have a crick in it if she stayed that way. He shifted her, laying her down instead of sitting. He stopped moving as he settled her head, the knowledge suddenly hitting him.

It was _her_.

He'd known she distracted him, but she'd also rubbed off on him; even though they were hardly around each other, she'd stuck in his mind! Cursing his stupidity, he raced away, telling himself that he'd just have to keep away from her even more. He ignored the thought that he _had_ been doing that, and now look how well it had worked.

He came to a stop in the training yard, to find Kazuma with a girl all in black. _That_ girl happened to be one of Tohru's friends. She was the one with the black nails cut squarely instead of the usual oval.

"Ah, Kyo!" Kazuma said, excusing himself and standing up. Holding his hand to help Hana up, he introduced them.

"Charmed," Hana said, smiling while shaking Kyo's hand. She creeped him out, but at least her smile was friendly enough.

"Hana-chan is very interested in martial arts history," Kazuma explained.

"That's nice…" Kyo said, slightly uncomfortable from being around a person he didn't know too well.

* * *

Mayu was sitting by herself, thinking. Being around Hatori so much was brining back more and more memories by the day. It was an odd sensation, to fall in love with a man, while those feelings triggered memories of loving him before.

Resting her head in her hands, she tried to reason things out. With only half of the puzzle, she couldn't complete everything, but she could organize what she had. Her friend Kana had been Hatori's helper, he was a doctor, and it was to help complete her training. But how she had met Kana she didn't know, because she would have to have been a healer in training as well… wouldn't she? Then how come she didn't remember more about healing? Why was she only remembering things with Hatori in them? Well, that _was_ why she was reading this book, but still…

Turning from that missing puzzle piece, she moved on. The two had fallen in love, and Kana had wanted to introduce him to her because of it. When Mayu had first seen Hatori, it was like she had suddenly found a four-leaf clover; he was the one.

Being Kana's friend, she of course went places with her, consequently interacting with Hatori frequently. This bittersweet pain was lessened by the fact that Hatori and Kana were no longer together. But why they weren't, was fuzzy. It was something about the head of the family being angry, and Kana leaving.

Her head hurt now…

"Oooh, that one looks positively splendid!" Shigure exclaimed, clapping his hands. Aaya grinned, handing Shigure the embroidered cloth. It was a pattern that Ayame liked to embroider onto his dresses.

"It is a work of Art of course!" Aaya agreed. "I wish I could have shown you the piece that I made for Tohru-san to hang on her wall! It was simply beautiful!"

"Well describe it for me then!" Shigure was curious, since when had Ayame known Tohru that well?

"Well, I happened to notice something," Ayame said, not mentioning what it was, but still expressing it with his face. "And so I embroidered some leaves and kittens, and some other things, and then in the middle I put "_True love is like a circle, it never ends"! _And then, underneath that was her name in the top half of a circle! When she gets married with the one she loves, I shall fill the other half of the circle with his name! Aaya clapped his hands and smiling just thinking about it.

"Ah, do you mean Haa-san?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Aaya asked, baffled, lowering his hands, his smile fading. "I meant Kyon-kichi!"

Shigure fell off his chair in shock. Climbing back up, he informed Aaya, "But Tohru is engaged to Haa-san, it's part of an agreement between her grandfather and Akito!"

Aaya gasped, before exclaiming, "But this is all wrong! Not that Tohru-chan isn't good for Hatori, or he for her, there is just a better woman for him! And she's absolutely smitten with Kyon-kichi!"

Shigure chimed in, "YES! We shall save Hatori and Tohru, so that Hatori and Mayu can be together!"

"So that Tohru-chan may be with her true love!"

The two of them stampeded off, full of vigor and courage, before finally finding paper and brushes and ink!

"You know Aaya…" Shigure said thoughtfully, as he wrote down ideas. "I have a book I was borrowing from Hatori…."

"Yes?" Aaya prodded, practicing imitating Hatori's writing.

"Well, I lent it to Mayu a while back. It was on healing plants and such. If we were to, say, not collect it from Mayu ourselves, but have Hatori do it… "

"Yes, yes, PERFECT Gure-san!" Ayame said delightedly, and in his exuberance, wrote the wrong words on his piece of paper. Shigure, looking over Aya's shoulder, read it aloud.

"My dearest Mayu, I wish that – (CENSORED DUE TO ADULT CONENT!! O.O)"

"Ooh, spelling error there Ayame…. Naughty, Naughty!"

"Ah, oopsies!" Aya said, chuckling, crumpling the paper up and throwing it in the fire.

"Aaya, Shigure?" A very calm Hatori opened the door. But his icy eyes pinned them in place.

"Yes Haa-san?" Shigure asked, shivering. Scary!!

"If I ever hear you speak like that about Mayu again, neither of you will escape from pain, for a long while. Do I make myself clear?"

The two of them nodded, while Ayame proceeded to try and apologize by offering Hatori a cup of his special tea.

* * *

Hatori walked off, his face still icy calm He had been walking past a door when he'd heard Shigure talking like he was reading something. He'd immediately put a stop to it… but now he was on his was to retrieve the book Shigure had loaned Mayu.

Stopping outside her door, he knocked, and waited… and waited…sigh and waited…

Mayu opened the door, and her eyes widened, all traces of sleepiness gone from her eyes.

"I was told by Shigure that you had my book," he said stiffly, all too aware that she looked like she had just woken up from an unplanned nap.

"Oh, yes, yes, I do. Would you come in for a moment?" Mayu said, feeling very uncomfortable, but it was impolite to leave him standing at the door.

Tohru looked up from her sewing and then stared back down at it as Hatori came in. Mayu walked over to a large pillow where the book lay, and came back, handing it to him. He nodded his thanks, before silently walking back out the door.

"Mayu-san?" Tohru asked quietly.

"Yes Tohru?" Mayu asked, looking up from her hands that had briefly touched Hatori's.

She really wanted to know how Mayu felt about Hatori. Sitting down beside her, and twisting her hands around each other, she lost the courage. Almost.

"Uhm…" Tohru blushed very hard. "Forgive me if I'm prying, and go ahead and tell me to mind my own business…" closing her eyes tightly, she rushed out the last bit as legibly as she could. "DoYouLikeHatori-sanInThatWay?"

Mayu was quiet for a while. If Tohru could see it, then what about any other person? Or maybe it was just Hana who had told Tohru, but she wouldn't get her hopes up.

"Yeah. I," Mayu smiled sadly, and whispered, "I like Hatori-san, in that way."

Tohru sat for a while, before saying," I'm really sorry Mayu-san. Maybe we could talk to my grandfather, and see if he can get the king to find another person for me to marry?"

Mayu shook her head. If she was an actual healer, she might have the status to marry Hatori, but no…

"It's all right Tohru. I can live with it."

Tohru looked dejected, and murmured, "But I wish you didn't have to." _I wish _I _didn't have to_, she thought, before stuffing that thought away. She had already gone over this with herself!

* * *

Kyo was hundreds of miles away from the castle. The other side had been too quiet, for too long. No attacks on the army not even replacements for the spies he'd gotten rid of.

Crawling along the roof almost on his stomach, he spotted the vent he was looking for, and identified the spell guarding it. An alarm one, well, that wasn't too bad. Concentrating, he undid the spell, and climbed into the vent.

Finding the room he was after, he sat and waited for the meeting to take place. They took their time at dinner didn't they.

After waiting an hour, he was rewarded. The king and his generals settled into chairs and opened maps.

The head general pointed to various points, and explaining who should go were and what they should do. Other men began to argue. Kyo listened half-heartedly; most of this he knew already. But after a while, all the arguing died down, and only the head general was talking to the king.

Shifting silently, he watched in growing horror as the general outlines an attack on the castle. After they finished, he eased out of the vent, and immediately began the long trip back to the castle.

* * *

Oh no, trouble! They're all going to die, and Ritsu shall be the cause of it all!! Pretend faints

Hiro: Really? Now just how realistic is that? Hmm? And WHY have you not put Kisa and I in here? I thought you thought we were an adorable couple and wanted to write about it!

Hiro!! _Glomps._ Don't worry! Being a ram myself, I can't forget you!

Get off of me Super stupid woman!

Ah, ah, ah, Hiro! You can't tell a 4.0 student she's stupid.

Hiro: If you people can bear to read this story, then you can certainly stand to review. And I'm out of here, away from this annoying Air Head! Stomps off

Review pretty pretty please! With a kitty and Onigiri candy on top?


	10. Chapter 10

I don't write romance very well… I try, but I get embarrassed every time I start to write it, which makes me chuckle a little bit.

I didn't write it I didn't write it...

**Chapter 10**

Yuki sat idly, examining a maple leaf in his hands.

"Oh, excuse me," Machi said. She'd been walking in the garden, hoping to get away from Manabe; he'd been pestering her all morning.

"No, it's all right!" Yuki said, standing up, and offering her the seat.

"No, I was just passing by…" Machi muttered, walking past him. Something dropped out of her pocket, and Yuki picked it up. Looking at it, he asked without thinking.

"Is this part of the present I gave you?"

When he'd first arrived with the Honda group, he'd given the council members various gifts, and they him. (An old custom in the land)

He'd taken various dried plants, and with a little bit of help from a Master Healer, placed them into an imprint in a stone tablet. When called upon, the plants could produce a healing powder, or liquid, depending on the plant, and this in turn could be used for whatever purpose the plant had. They were easy to make, but very costly. He'd given a set of these to Machi, the color of the stones forming a rainbow.

This particular stone tablet was a rusty red, and the plant in the imprint, was known for it's sweet fragrance, as well as a cure for any poison.

"Or is it a different one?" Yuki asked. It was possible after all. Machi looked at it, a startled expression on her face.

"It is!"

"I see," Yuki replied, feeling kind of disappointed. He held it out to her

"It's not… that it isn't yours," Machi said suddenly, as she took it from him.

"Eh? Machi, you aren't making any sense," Yuki said, chuckling.

Manabe had found the two of them at this point.

"Hey, isn't that part of the present Yun-yun gave to you?" He asked, eyes wide.

"Don't call me Yun-yun!" Yuki said dangerously, while Machi pocketed the tablet.

As the two of them argued, she started to walk off.

"Wait!" Yuki called, catching up to her. Manabe had suddenly remembered that he had wanted to talk to Ayame, who'd been looking for Yuki.

"It's not that there's a deep meaning in it or anything," Machi began. "I just liked the smell, and so I carry it around with me."

"Thank you," Yuki said with a smile. "Thank you for using it."

Machi's face turned red. "It's not like I treat it special or anything!"

"But you carry it around with you, and,"

"That doesn't mean you have to thank me!" Machi yelled, turning towards him.

"Little brother, I thought you knew better!" Ayame said, appearing with Manabe and Mine in tow.

"The lady is always right, even when she's wrong, she is right, and you treat it as such!"

"Yes Yuki, especially with Machi!" Manabe agreed.

"This has nothing to do with you, saucepans!" Machi and Yuki yelled in unison.

Silence….

"Ahem, well, we shall leave it to the two of you then," Ayame said, and swept off, saying, "ta-ta! Enjoy your apologies to each other!_" wink wink._

Machi, face burning, stomped off. Yuki, his own face hosting a hot pink tinge, sat down.

* * *

Uo was walking towards the place where she was supposed to meet Kureno. Suddenly somebody pushed her aside, hurriedly running towards his or her destination. She fell sideways, trying to regain her footing.

To her dismay, she was now falling down a staircase. Arms trying to grasp any handrail, or _something_, she suddenly collided with a wall. The wall was Kureno, who was bent back slightly, but had successfully stopped her fall. Unfortunately, his foot was raised to step onto the next step, and her feet tangled with his.

"Oh shoot," she heard him mutter, as the two of them tumbled down the stairs together, both of his arms wrapped around her tightly.

She looked up at him slowly after they had landed, feeling softness beneath them. He was looking down at her in concern. Blushing furiously, her first thought was to push away. But he didn't seem inclined to let her go.

"I'm all right. Where are we?" she asked, her throat feeling dry.

"In an old storage room; usually the stair case is hidden by the door," he murmured, distractedly running his fingers through her hair, checking to see that her head was all right.

"Oh…" she said, and sat up. His hands on her head were distracting. Standing up, she found that the softness was a pile of feather beds. Turning to ask him something, she found he had stood up as well, and she was facing his chest.

_It's nice kind of, to have a guy taller than me…_

"Arisa?" Kureno asked, wondering if there was something on his shirt.

Her head snapped up. "Yeah?"

"_What…what was I going to say to her…?" _Kureno wondered, staring at her. She herself wasn't thinking clearly either.

His hands came up to hold her face, and he smiled slightly, wistfully. Her eyes grew wide as his head bent down.

Those eyes, those beautiful eyes.

His guilt came rushing in. This had started because Akito told him to; he probably wouldn't have gotten to know her that much at all if Akito hadn't told him to. Plus, if Akito found out that Kureno actually _liked_ Arisa, she might somehow hurt Arisa like she had hurt Kana.

He shouldn't continue this, he could just tell Akito that Arisa wasn't interested in him, and just not see Uo anymore. Something. He had to do something.

"I need to tell you something," he said quietly.

She suddenly stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. He kissed her back in spite of himself, eagerly. Her hands went up to the back of his neck; his hands drew her closer. When they pulled apart for air, she tried to pull him back, but he pulled away.

"I really do need to tell you something," He said, trying hard not to kiss her again.

Taking a deep breath, he began. What he had to do to separate them could happen later, if they saw each other again. He couldn't torture himself, and get her hopes up, by kissing her. He could cherish the kiss, but couldn't keep her in danger.

"We've just received a report that the enemy is going to attack the castle. We are emergency evacuating everybody, after they've finished packing the bare necessities. This includes your group of course. At the end of the day regardless of how much has been packed, we will be relocating to another castle, where some of our relatives live."

She nodded, and raced up the stairs to go back and pack, stopping only to turn and say, "I'll see you around Kureno"

* * *

Things had been so hectic all of a sudden! She had just sent a letter to her grandfather, talking about the predicament she found herself in, when she was dragged off to help pack and now off they went!

Tohru was walking out the door with Uo and Hana when she thought of Kyo. He might be away, and not have anything packed! He'd probably want some thing from his room…

Telling her friends that she was going to find Mayu, she rushed off towards his room, hoping that she could get SOME things for him.

"Where's Tohru?" Mayu demanded, catching up with Uo and Hana as they walked towards the back entrance that everybody was leaving through.

"I thought she was with, WHOA!!" Uo said, stumbling as a cannonball suddenly hit the castle, the noise echoing loudly in the big hall.

"I'll go look for her!" Mayu said, while Hana began trying to find Tohru's electric signals.

Tohru smiled in satisfaction as she held up the bags that she had hurriedly but neatly packed. Turning to the door, she suddenly wobbled and fell, as the tower _moved_.

"W-what?"

Hatori had been loading his medical supplies into a wagon, when a person fell down in front of him, pushed by the crowd trying to get out. He offered a hand, to find it was _Mayu_. She looked at him and gasped out, "Hatori! Have you seen Tohru?"

Frowning, he shook his head. "I'll help you search for her," he said. Turning to Ayame and Shigure, he told them to just grab his bags from his office and load them into the cart.

Ayame nodded, folding up his precious bolts of fabric, with Shigure's books inside.

As Mayu and Hatori agreed on a few things such as where they'd search, where to meet and such, Shigure sighed.

"How sweet, Haa-san is helping Mayu!"

Ayame simply grinned. "After they find Tohru, Mayu shall be simply exhausted, and he can carry her nobly out the castle gates!"

"No no, he would carry her whilst riding a stallion!" Shigure objected. The two of them finally agreed on an outrageous scenario by the time they finished loading. It included an evil dragon from the opposing side lying dead, killed by Hatori, magicians slowly dying from poisonous plants, a few other enemies defeated, and complete with a knight and princess costume.

* * *

Hatori bounded up the steps, the last place he would have thought of was Kyo's room; she probably wouldn't even be in there. But since he'd been passing the hallway, he might as well grab a few of the records and check Kyo's room.

Opening the door, he saw Tohru stumble. Ignoring the phenomenon of a tower _moving_, he reached to catch Tohru. The world blacked out, as his head hit the wall.

Tohru had felt somebody catch her, but there wasn't a person nearby… Her stomach dropped as the tower fell down abruptly. As it seemed to settle against something, gravity pulled her towards the bed at the opposite end of the room. She didn't understand, towers didn't just decide to come off of their castles, and come to rest at an angle!

Slowly standing up, she found a seahorse by the bag she'd packed. A …seahorse?

She tried to find some water to put it in, and ran around the room. She'd forgotten that it wasn't level…fell and knocked herself out.

* * *

"Heh heh, great work Takako!" a man in a general's uniform clapped his hands. "The king's room is in ONE of these towers, so if we unsettle him greatly before we slaughter him, all the better! And it saves the soldiers a whole lot of stair climbing to boot!"

Takako smiled dimly. "I simply want to find _her_ so that I may sooner meet The Grandfather…"

"Yeah, whatever," the general muttered. He didn't care about any grudges except his own.

"Get those canons roarin again!" he ordered.

* * *

"Here," Yuki said, hurriedly, taking the last few boxes in the council room, and turning to Manabe.

"Take some of these!" he ordered shortly, shoving them into Manabe's arms.

Manabe didn't have time to voice his complaints, because he was shoved out of the door.

Yuki ran swiftly down the hallway, slowing down as he neared the corner. The rumbles and shakings were getting worse.

As he turned the corner, he nearly ran into Machi, who had been told she needed to get her own belongings now, they would get the rest.

She nearly dropped the box, which contained all of the stone tablets he'd given her, on his toe.

"Ah, sorry!" Yuki exclaimed, picking it up for her and taking off at a trot.

"Hey, come back here with my things!" Machi yelled, running after him.

"Well, I just figured I'd carry it for you so we could get out faster," Yuki said, panting slightly. Stone was heavy, and his bronchial tubes still gave him some trouble when taxed.

Machi remained silent, and just kept running with him. By the time they reached the wagon that her things were in, both of them were carrying it, and the wagon was moving out the gate. Machi helped Yuki onto the wagon, and they both sat there, panting.

"…. Thanks," Machi muttered.

"No problem," Yuki wheezed, before passing out. Well, it looked like he passed out to Machi, because he suddenly closed his eyes and fell backwards.

"Hey!" Machi said, slapping his face. Yuki sat up, wincing.

"What was that for, I was trying to rest!" Yuki said. Machi turned away from him and crossed her arms.

After a long silence, Yuki figured she wouldn't say anything, so went back to resting.

* * *

**1 **Takako means Lofty child.

I was going to write some _more_ in this chapter… but I felt like it was a good way to stop. SO! You'll have to wait until next chapter to see what happens! Not too bad a cliff hanger, ne?

Please review!! With a cheery pie and whipped cream on top, delivered by the guy or girl of your dreams!

-Aria-chan09


	11. Chapter 11

It was the day before I'd planned to update, and I only had 6 pages! Well, I sat down and typed (which was hard, because I had ice on my legs to help them, and the keyboard sits on top of that…) Anyways! Do know I try to update regularly every 4 days!

I love some pretty odd sounding songs. I would name them, but once I named a song in the notes and got my story taken off for it! O.O So I won't. (Sigh)

**Chapter 11**

Nobody asked Akito why they were simply giving up the castle, and why they didn't send soldiers to fight.

It was simple. They had too many forces, and why kill off men they could use later in a fight they couldn't win?

This castle wasn't made for war; it was made for leisure.

* * *

Kyo ran up the basement stairs, handing Kazuma the last of the weapons. Kazuma ran towards the last of the wagons, while Kyo thought suddenly that he hadn't gotten any of his things. Crap, there wasn't time to get even the few things he _did_ want. As he took a step forward to stop running, his instincts made him look up.

A tower was hurtling down towards him from above. Sprinting out of the way, he threw himself into some bushes as it landed in front of the door he'd just come out of. Hearing shouts, he watched as enemy troops march in the gateway nearest him, heading for the front doors of the castle.

Hey. That was the tower his room was in. And since it was now disconnected from the castle, they probably wouldn't be getting to it for a while now, especially if they couldn't see it from where they were.

He clenched his fist and remained silent, as a triumphant grin grew on his face. Well, he could get some of his things now, maybe.

Hurrying over, he looked for some way to get in. If he believed that the CAT could have lucky moments he would've said this was one of them. There was a door about 4 feet up, near the castle wall. Propping his feet against the castle, and his back against the curved surface of the tower, he reached the door, and turned the handle. It swung inwards, thankfully. He ran to the doorway that led to the hall, then raced up the steps to his room.

Racing carefully to his bed, he knelt down and felt under it, coming up with his favorite weapons and tools that he used the most. Turning to find a bag, he found one, already filled with some of his clothing.

"_That's odd. I'm pretty sure I didn't pack this," _He thought, digging through the bag. He found mostly his favorite shirts, pants, and other clothing items. He was startled to find a few things that had no value except to him. There were a few other things, but he preferred not to admit that he held them dear. But he _knew_ he hadn't packed this.

As he stood up, he spotted brown, silky strands or hair. Looking around the end of his bed, he dropped his bag.

"Tohru, what're you doing here?" He demanded of the prone figure. "This ain't any time to be sleeping! And especially not in my room!"

A poof by his knee startled him, and an unconscious Hatori appeared.

"GAH! Hatori? What are the two of you doing in my room?!" He yelled, throwing his blankets over Hatori. "I mean, of all places to get knocked out, why pick my room? Oh man, it's _such _a good thing I'm not Shigure, or you two would never hear the end of this!"

Walking over to Tohru, he tried to wake her up. He already knew staring at her, or picking her up wouldn't wake her. Pinching her arm didn't work.

"TOHRU YOU IDIOT! THIS IS _NOT_ THE TIME TO BE SLEEPING IN MY ROOM!! I DIDN'T _EVER_ TELL YOU THAT YOU COULD!!" Hey, with this girl, guilt just might work!

"Ugh…" Hatori sat up, covering his ears. "Why am I, oh yes."

After Hatori had dressed, he knelt down by Tohru.

"You do something," Kyo said, sitting back, and sighing. "Staring at her, Pinching her, picking her up, yelling at her, those don't work...GAH!"

Kyo wrinkled his nose and looked away, as Hatori took a vile out of his bag, and opened it. Kyo backed up a few feet as Hatori waved it under Tohru's nose.

She gasped, pushing it away from her nose, which was now running. Wiping her watering, burning eyes, she looked around, slowly remembering what she'd been doing.

"Hatori-san! Are you all right?" she exclaimed. Kyo looked at her in astonishment. How could she _talk_ after that vile smell had just been under her nose? He knew if he had tried to speak in her position, he wouldn't have been able to manage it. And that was _with_ his training to ignore smells! Though Kazuma hadn't made him immune to this smell; probably so that it could be used on him if he wouldn't wake up…

"Yes Tohru-kun, I'm fine," Hatori answered, smiling a bit, as he closed the vile and put it back in his bag. Hatori to? What, did being a healer or doctor make it easier for you to stand vile smells? At least it didn't stick around long!

"Shouldn't we be leaving?" she asked curiously, suddenly remembering more. Hatori was standing up, nodding.

"Tch. We would a left already if we hadn't had to wake up sleeping beauty!" Kyo snapped, standing over her with his arms crossed. Holding out his hand, he pulled her up roughly.

"Kyo, you should be gentler," Hatori reprimanded as he walked out of the door. Kyo glared at him. As Tohru protested that it was all right, she didn't mind, he tugged her out of the door.

"Hey, Hatori! We have to go out a different way!" Kyo called, running after him, Tohru trying to keep up.

"And why would that be? There isn't any other way that I know of," Hatori asked.

"Here, take a look for yourself," Kyo told him, pointing him in the right direction.

Hatori opened the door, and said, "I guess this would explain why I thought the tower was moving."

"Thought so," Kyo said. "Don't wait for us though, they're leaving already."

Hatori was going to protest, after all he did have responsibility towards Tohru, but then thought better of it; maybe Kyo wanted to apologize to Tohru without witnesses. Kyo could take care of the both of them.

He jumped down, and started running to the back gate. The wagons were gone already, the gate closed. He slowed down, wondering how the gate could've closed, when he was grabbed from behind.

"Hey, captain, we found somebody!" a guard yelled. "And he's got a bag full of weird things to!" he added, as his companion searched his bag.

"I'm a doctor, I make it my specialty to carry around weird things," Hatori informed them, as they pulled out his stethoscope.

The first soldier pulled him away with the help of the second soldier. They were dragging him back towards the tower, where more soldiers were waiting.

"_I hope that they didn't get Kyo and Tohru-kun."_

* * *

Kyo looked out the door, and was about to jump down when guards came into view. He shut the door, and put a hand over Tohru's mouth. Putting his ear against the door, he waited, and listened.

Tohru remained silent, hardly daring to breath. Oddly, she was suddenly short of breath. She tried to ignore how warm Kyo's hand felt, and what he smelled like. No, she refused to think about what he smelled like! Outside, she heard voices, so she concentrated on those.

"This guy says he's a doctor."

"Whatever, we just need to find the king. Let's try to get into this tower, maybe he's in here!"

Kyo pulled back from the door, released Tohru, and started to move a few heavy chests by the door, in front of it, as quietly as possible. It was possible after all, that during the fall that they could've moved to block the door.

"Hey, these're plants that can make you seem like your dead!" Tohru whispered, picking up some stone tablets with dried plants in them.

Kyo nodded distractedly, listening to the conversation outside.

"Here, you, magic fellow. Check with your magic and see if there's actually anybody in there! No use in wasting energy to get in a tower nobody is in."

"_Crap, they have a magician?"_ Kyo thought, wondering what to do. Turning to Tohru, he remembered what she'd just said, and told her,

"We need to use those."

* * *

"Nobody in there sir," the man said.

"_How? Did they get away?" _Hatori wondered, as he was pulled away.

He tripped over something, and then again when he tried to regain his feet. It wasn't from clumsiness at all. He thought that he'd heard Mayu scream his name. As he tried to get up, he was kicked in the sides. These guards weren't as kind as the ones that had caught him.

"We need to tie his arms first sir," a voice said above him.

"_I think a rib is bruised,"_ Hatori thought, as his arms were roughly jerked behind his back.

* * *

"TOHRU!!" Mayu yelled, gasping as she ran down the stairs. Arms grabbed her as she turned a corner.

"Hey! Let me go!" she yelled, jerking her arms. She was roughly jerked in return. _"Owww," _she said in her head, glaring at her captors. They walked her out of the castle, and towards the garden.

As she was dragged over to a group of soldiers, she saw a tall figure with dark, black hair. He suddenly tripped over something. "Hatori!"she yelled, and then bit her bottom lip as he tripped again. They were near enough by now that she could see when he was kicked in the sides.

As they tied his hands behind his back roughly, she saw him grimace.

"Hatori, are you, OWW!" she said, her head jerking back as a soldier backhanded her.

"Stop talking bitch!" he ordered her.

Hatori looked up in anger at him calling her a bitch, but at the wrong moment. A soldier's foot connected with his already bruised head, and he gasped, gritting his teeth so he wouldn't yell. Mayu's face became blurry.

"_Why is it my horrible misfortune to be unconscious twice in one day, and when I most need to be conscious?"_ He wondered in frustration, as the world disappeared, and all the kicking he was receiving couldn't wake him up.

* * *

Mayu was stressed. She wasn't thinking straight, her head hurt, and all she could think of was that they were hurting Hatori. (When you are this stressed, you _cannot_ think rationally. It's not even an idea in your head!)

You could say she was mad.

"You…You…" She gasped, her eyes seeming to glow; she was seeing red.

They ignored her, but did finally stop kicking Hatori. As they tried to figure out what to do next with all of this dead weight, they continued to ignore her.

Slowly at first, their heartbeats began slowing down. Fatigue overtook them, hard as they fought. As the men around her crumpled to the ground, Mayu's head began to hurt slightly.

"_I feel like I should be remembering something again," _she thought distractedly, massaging her head gently. She knelt down by Hatori and gently pulled his head onto her lap.

"Hatori," she whispered, wincing as she saw the sizable bruise on his head. "I wish I could help you."

"W-what?" she asked, as she suddenly saw him with bandaging over his left eye in her mind. Suddenly she remembered talking with Kana, who was telling her that Hatori would be a perfect match for her. She remembered before that, celebrating their new status as Master Healers. The memories began to rush in at once, so that she couldn't distinguish one from the other. Clutching her head, she fell on top of Hatori, transforming him.

* * *

Haru sat distractedly on a wagon, driving it. He was supposed to guard it well, though what was in it he didn't know.

His thoughts turned to Rin, naturally. He sighed. She'd gone missing, and he couldn't find her.

"Rin…"

* * *

Rin stirred, finding herself in a wagon. Strange. Her long hair was gone, but she didn't really mind. Akito still hadn't punished Haru, or she said she hadn't.

Grimacing at the fact that she had to believe Akito, she sat up. She really shouldn't have believed that the box would have the way to cure the curse. But gullible her had been grasping at any straw, even her dreams. So she'd gone and tried to get the box. And Akito had found her, sitting in front of it, reaching for it.

"_I just wanted to save Haru!" _she had gasped, as Akito dragged her roughly to a place she hadn't seen before. _"I just wanted to…"_

"_Break the curse?" _Akito had sneered, eyes furious. _"Next time ask before you go snooping about!"_

Rin winced at the memory.

She started to crawl towards the front of the wagon, only to find her hands tied. She moved forwards anyhow. Peering through the curtain, she sat back in surprise. Haru was driving this wagon.

…. Wait. She was tied; Haru wouldn't tie her up like a prisoner. Or would he? She had been running away from him, so maybe he would. But why would he be taking her away with a whole lot of other wagons, because it seemed they were in quite the procession.

She tired herself out thinking like this. Her poor health, lack of food and exhaustion soon had her sleeping.

* * *

"Haru, I'll drive. You should go in back."

"All right," Haru said idly, unsuspecting.

Earlier…

"_Kazuma!" Kureno yelled, running up to catch up with him. "Kazuma!"_

"_Yes? Is there something wrong Kureno?" Kazuma asked, his pace not lessening as he hurried towards the wagons._

"I just found out where Rin is!" Kureno said quietly. Kazuma's eyes went wide.

"_Akito was keeping her in," Kureno looked very disturbed, "In the cat's punishment room."_

"What?" Kazuma asked sharply.

"I got her out and stuck her in a wagon, telling Haru that Akito said to guard it well." Kureno nodded at Kazuma, and hurried off.End of earlier

As Haru climbed into the back, he wasn't really on his guard, expecting it to be something like records, or some bit of the treasury. And he was right, but only partially. As he sat on the floor, leaning against a chest, he spotted a foot. Frowning, he crawled over, and found Rin.

She was in a ragged, dirty, simple white dress, and appeared to be sleeping. As he reached for her, she opened her eyes slightly, and sighed happily.

"Oh; it's a dream about Haru…." She whispered, smiling slightly. His face remained expressionless.

Her smile disappeared, and she started to cry. "I _tried_ Haru, I really did."

Haru smiled and pulled her towards him. "I know you did Rin. But I'm lonely without you."

Rin hiccupped and cried harder now, her head on his shoulder. "I'm so useless! I couldn't even find a way to save Haru!"

She didn't see him frown. Had Akito made her believe he was in danger?

"I was t-trying to find a way," Rin paused, and took a deep breath to continue. "To break the curse. S-so Haru would b-b-be safe!"

Oh; he understood now.

"Rin," he hugged her, "Will you come back?"

She sniffled, and nodded.

* * *

I'm all for the tragic lover's tale type in this story, aren't I! _Sweat drop_.

Anyways, hope that my writing is still doing well; I usually have more time to go through a chapter and rewrite little bits to make it better!

My first ever track meet today! Wohoo! (I'm sunburned to!) I've never been in a sport before, and was expecting to be nervous, but I ran the 100-meter dash in 15.4 seconds, **and** I _wasn't last!!_

Anyways, I was going to put a false chapter update in and say April Fools, but I decided not to.

Please review!

Aria-chan09


	12. Chapter 12

According to the dictionary: Idiot: one's intelligence is incapable of developing beyond a 4 year old mental level.

I told you this because Kyo called Tohru and idiot, and thought you might find it interesting! (Though him calling her an idiot isn't!)

**Chapter 12**

"Uuuhh." Mayu pushed herself upwards and looked around her. In the darkness of near midnight, she could barely distinguish the men in uniforms all around her. When she checked their pulses, she found them all dead. Frowning, she sat back, before she remembered.

She had been so angry with the soldiers for what they were doing, and what they'd done, that she'd stopped their hearts. Using her ability had brought back all her memories, and she'd collapsed.

She hadn't noticed the poof behind her, but she did notice that Hatori didn't have any clothing on when she turned around; luckily she only saw he didn't have a shirt on, due to some type of cloud around him. Blushing she covered him with her coat, and put his shirt on him.

Looking around, she could see a tower leaning against the castle not far from where she was, and decided that it was a better place than out in the open. She wondered why nobody else had found them yet, as she started to drag Hatori towards it.

"Hatori, you don't have enough fat on you to feel this heavy," Mayu told him, grinning tiredly. "It must be muscle then, for that is heavier than fat." She finally reached the tower, and then asked conversationally, "Since it can only _be_ muscle, then pray tell, where do you get all that muscle?"

"Nnnnn," was his only answer.

"Very helpful Hatori!" Mayu said with a small smile, sitting down and leaning up against the wall to rest. "It tells me that you're regaining consciousness!"

Looking up, she noticed a door, about 4 feet up from the head of a person Hatori's height. Looking back at Hatori, she sighed. Tugging him closer into the shadows, she looked around.

Seeing nobody, she placed her hands, one over the other, above his heart, closed her eyes and took a breath. Clearing her mind, she didn't notice the passage of time. All she knew was that when Hatori was healed, she was tired.

Lying down, she fell asleep instantly.

* * *

"Mmmm." Kyo breathed deep and sighed contentedly. He was warm, his body was relaxed, and a delicious smell was all he could smell. It smelled of strawberries and vanilla, and other yummy things.

Snuggling closer, he felt arms squeezing him.

"WAH?" He yelled, his eyes snapping opening. All he saw was a forest green silk. Craning his head backwards, he saw golden embroidery in the shape of cats playing higher up. Looking even higher, he found a face, pale white. Too white.

Struggling out of Tohru's arms, he placed his paw on her face, lightly slapping it. It brought some color to her face at least, so she wasn't dead.

He sat back, relieved. He hadn't been sure about using that herb, but Tohru had said she knew what she was doing.

Well… she'd wake up when she woke up. Sitting down, he waited, hoping she wouldn't wake when he changed back.

POOF!!

He changed back into his clothing, and sat down by Tohru. Looking down at her, he blushed, remembering how he'd woken up.

Standing up, he listened outside. Nobody yet, but he wanted a better look around the area before they left. He looked back down at Tohru.

"_Forest green actually looks good on her. It emphasizes her pale face, kinda making it glow. And the blush stands out to…Gah, why am I admiring her! I'm not supposed to think like this! If I get attracted to her..."_

He banged his head against the wall, when a hand on his ankle stopped him.

"Kyo? Why are you banging your head against the wall?" Tohru asked, rubbing her eyes with her other hand.

"Because my head was fuddled; I was trying to sharpen it up again, just in case," he told her, not looking at her.

"Oh, ok," Tohru, said with a confused smile. "Though that really doesn't help."

"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"To my room," he snapped, then stopped. "I-I didn't mean it that way! I meant, like…"

"Eh?" she said, not comprehending what he was trying to say.

Sighing, he shook his head and continued, stopping at a window. Looking out, he swore.

"They're swarming all over the walls!"

Tohru bit her lip, and wandered off to his room, something in the back of her memory just out of reach. When she reached the room, she walked around, trying to remember what it was she was going to do. Finally she flopped on the floor where Kyo's bed used to be, and stared at the ceiling.

"THAT'S IT!" she exclaimed, sitting up.

"What's it?" Kyo asked, leaning against the door and watching her with a confused smile. She was rushing around the room, trying to find something, and looking very cute while flustered.

"Kyo, could you move something under that painting, so I can reach it? Tohru asked, digging through the rubble and coming up with paints, brushes and the like.

"Why?" He asked, doing more than she asked, and taking it off of the ceiling.

"Because I _promised_ you, remember?" she told him, walking over to the painting

"You still remember that?" he asked, almost grinning.

She nodded her head enthusiastically. "And it won't be that hard either! It's just a small little cat. Now, where would…." She trailed of, before she smiled and began mixing paint. "Of course, silly me."

As he watched, the cat slowly took shape, in _front_ of the rat. His heart felt like it was being tugged slightly, but then the feeling was gone.

"All this time, I've been practicing, so that the cat can look similar to the others, although I'm far from a master painter. I couldn't get them to have the depth the others have," Tohru said, turning to him with a huge smile.

He walked over to the painting, staring. It was only a painting, but he still had beaten the rat in it!

"I-it looks just fine," he said, feeling very odd: very light, very _free_.

"I'm glad," Tohru told him, standing right beside him.

His struggled for a moment, before saying quietly, "Thank you, Tohru."

* * *

"Mayu. _Mayu_." The urgency in the voice startled Mayu, and she opened her eyes, and promptly her face gained a pink tinge. Hatori was kneeling by her, his head close to hers so he could speak softly, but still be heard. She could see very clearly each strand of his dark black hair.

"I'm awake," She told him quietly. Sitting up, she looked around, and gasped.

"How're we supposed to get out Hatori?" she asked, looking at him. He looked back at her, very serious.

"I don't know, but I do know where we can hide until we know what we can do." He pointed up. "I was in there before they caught me."

Standing up, he jumped up and knocked on the bottom of the door. After he'd done this for a few times, it opened, and Tohru's wide eyes looked down at them.

"Mayu-san! Why are you still here!" she gasped, kneeling down. "Hatori-san! How did you escape!"

"Could we come in first?" Mayu asked. Tohru nodded, and between the four of them (with Kyo) they were all in the tower.

"What should we do?" Hatori asked, looking at Kyo. Kyo was frowning.

"Well… I know that there are passages to use, but that requires going into the castle. The best thing to do is just try and sneak out at night.

* * *

Kyo was looking for Tohru, because Hatori and Mayu had found something edible, and they'd need something to eat. He paused, watching her look out the window.

"_It's for her own good. It really is."_ He thought, finishing the speech that he'd just given to himself.

Tohru was looking out the window, watching as some of the enemy found the dead men Mayu had killed yesterday. She frowned.

Healers weren't exactly supposed to kill people, because they might get twisted, and become like the enemy's healer. But Mayu hadn't done it intentionally, plus Mayu had a hard time not losing her lunch when she thought about it. She probably wouldn't do it again, if that were any indication.

"Hey." Kyo knocked her gently on the head, looking out the window over her head. Her face flushed, her body suddenly tense. She could feel warmth from him reaching her, and there was the smell that was him, that she still refused to identify.

Well, she tried to not identify it. But…

Cinnamon. There was a faint trace of cinnamon there.

"_Stop there!"_ she told herself, and she succeeded only because Kyo asked her something.

"Eh? What was that Kyo-kun?" she asked, making herself turn to look at him.

"I wanted to know if you were hungry," he muttered "But if you aren't going to pay attention to me, then fine. Starve for all I care."

"_Huh?" _

"This is for the best. No, I don't feel guilty….I feel like the lowest bacteria in a monsters stomach. Actually I'm the monster…"

* * *

"Apparently they're all gone, there's not even any records that would be useful in any way to us. We've found some of our men dead, but we can't even find out how they died."

"Da--t," the general growled, slamming his fist onto the table. Takako in the corner remained silent, his face expressionless.

* * *

"KYO-KUN ISN'T WITH YOU? KYOOOOO MY LOOOOOVE, HOW COULD YOOOOOOUUUUUU!!" Kagura screamed, breaking her metal ladle over a counter. Kazuma's smile remained, as he watched her try to demolish anything in sight. But as the kitchen was proofed against her rampages, the only thing she could break were cheap metal utensils.

The castle had finally reached their relatives, where Kagura happened to be a cook.

"Jeez, I'm really glad we replaced everything when she came here," Hiro commented, leaning against the wall. "She's family, and a great cook, but she breaks things too easily."

"Hiro…" Kisa said, scratching the ears of one of her tigers. She worked with tigers. Tigers who'd been killing people weren't killed, they were sent to her.

"Sorry."

Kazuma chuckled. But seeing Kagura grab some knives to stab a certain cat-who-was-not-there, he had to intervene.

"Kagura. Think a moment. I'm worried about him as well, but think of what he does for a living. Think of who he _is._ Do you really think he can't take care of himself, and the others that haven't shown up?"

Kagura sighed, and put the knives back. Sitting down, she mumbled, "My heartless fire does have a heart."

* * *

_Night_

Tohru tried not to tremble. It was still very cold, and she didn't have a coat

Kyo was carrying her, and she was supposed to put the guards they were approaching, to sleep.

He'd been all right before; he'd liked her addition to the painting. But for some reason, he was really cold towards her now, and she couldn't find what she'd done.

"Hey," Kyo murmured in her ear. She blinked, and got to work. The guards stood to attention, seeing their commanding officer.

"Lower the gate."

A few minutes later, Hatori, Mayu, Kyo and Tohru left, walking in plain sight.

* * *

"Why is the gate lowering?" Takako interrupted the general's discussion with some of his subordinates.

The general looked sharply at his men, but they didn't know either. "There weren't any people left, were there. Or have you failed to find them?"

Takako waved his hand. "Never mind, it's not important."

"Who's running this attack, you or I!" the general roared.

* * *

Tohru covered one of her ears with a hand, feeling how cold they actually were. It was amazing; Hatori had been trained in martial arts as well. And not only could he keep up with Kyo, he could do it while carrying Mayu!

But she still hadn't figured out why Kyo was being cold towards her.

"Hey, hold on," Kyo snapped back at her. She cringed, but did as she was told. Hatori looked back at Mayu, both of them sharing confusion in what was going on with the younger two.

* * *

"Hiro, do you think Onee-chan will be all right?" Kisa asked, as she walked with Hiro to go see some of her tigers.

Hiro remained silent, trying not to be the way he usually was. It was really hard; he'd had lots of practice being the way he was.

His eyes widened when he saw Akito walking with Kureno, but Akito didn't seem to notice them.

"Hiro?"

"I don't know!" he yelled, then hit his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell!" he apologized.

Kisa smiled, and hugged him. He blushed.

* * *

"No, sorry, I haven't seen Kureno," Uo had heard this phrase the entire time ever since they'd arrived. Exhausted, she wandered out into the garden, ignoring the cold.

Rubbing her arms, she found to her dismay that the spells on the garden at the other castle didn't exist here. Wishing she'd brought a coat, she sat down on a stone bench, with birds carved into it.

She was dozing off, when she heard people speaking nearby.

"So, the chit has no interest in you."

"No Akito-sama," Kureno answered. Uo's eyes grew round, wondering whom they were talking about, and forgetting, or rather, ignoring the fact that it's rude to eavesdrop.

"I guess it's possible." The voice was icy, hard as steel.

"But I don't believe it. She's been asking for you for a while now, did you know that? And did you think that I haven't seen how you look at her, and she at you?" The voice was yelling now.

"You promised that you'd stay with me; you took an oath! You said when you were 15 years old that I would always be the only one you thought about, and not because it was your duty to stay with me!"

"Akito-sama, please, calm down, I –" Kureno's voice cut off with the sound of a slap. A thud. Uo started to stand, looking around, trying to pinpoint where the sound was from.

There, it was coming from there.

* * *

I am sooo sorry for the 3-day late update! I'm just so busy with homework and track… and prom is tonight!

But I have to tell you, I probably won't be updating every 4 days for a while… I can still write, but not so much!

Please review!

Aria


	13. Chapter 13

I am sooooo SORRY! I got restricted from the computer! And when I FINALLY got to get back on, Semesters came. THEN I got sick. Ugh.

I'm now a veteran of the State Music Festival! Wah! I got a 1! O.O Oh go ahead and read on! _Flaps hands in dismissal as she wows over this fact yet again._

**Chapter 13  
**

Uo's head shot up; she was gasping. The sun was streaming into the room she'd been given. Blinking, she realized that she'd fallen asleep while looking at the moon. They'd been here for a day at least, and she hadn't seen Kureno!

Frowning, she tried to remember what the dream had been. Well, Kureno had been in it, but it wasn't _that_ kind of dream. She just remembered feeling horror and despair.

She stood up and stretched carefully. Running her fingers through her hair, she went downstairs. As she passed the kitchen, she swiped a scone. Yuki, Manabe and Machi passed her, talking about council things.

Where was Tohru? She pushed the thought away, grimacing. Tohru hadn't turned up yet, and the chances that she would escape were infinitely small.

Mayu she was worried about to, but bluntly, she had more of a chance of escaping. Even without her memory of who she was, drastic situations could have her acting on instinct.

Hana had confirmed that both were alive, and that neither seemed too stressed yet. But the distance made it hard to tell.

Walking to the training grounds and munching on the scone, she was startled to see two odd shapes jumping over the walls. Soldiers raced to them, swords raised, but stopped. Whispers filtered back through the crowd.

Words like 'Kyo' and 'Hatori' came through, then, "Women."

She pushed her way through, but stopped when she saw a tired Hatori and Kyo both letting Tohru and Mayu down gently. All of their faces were red from the wind's blowing.

"T-tohru!" Uo yelled. She rushed at her, and caught her up in a huge bear hug.

"Uo!" Tohru gasped out, hugging her back just as tightly.

Nearby Kyo and Hatori were trying to move around so their muscles wouldn't cramp. It was extremely hard on them, as they were worn out from the nonstop traveling they'd done.

Tohru and Mayu were pulled away to rest with Uo following, while men servants helped Kyo and Hatori.

She forced her way into Tohru's room, to find her sound asleep. Leaving her with Hana, she walked for a while, finding herself back in the gardens. Relief was so great she needed some peace and quiet before she fainted!

"So, the chit has no interest in you."

"No Akito-sama," Kureno answered. Uo's eyes grew round. Kureno? She wondered whom they were talking about, ignoring the fact that it's rude to eavesdrop.

"I guess it's possible." The voice was icy, hard as steel. Uo felt like it was déjà vu, but couldn't guess where she'd heard this before.

"But I don't believe it. She's been asking for you for a while now, did you know that? And did you think that I haven't seen how you look at her, and she at you?" The voice was yelling now.

"You promised that you'd stay with me; you swore! You said when you were 15 years old that I would always be the only one you thought about, and not because it was your duty to stay with me!"

"Akito-sama, please, calm down, I –" Kureno's voice cut off with the sound of a slap. A thud. Uo was looking around, trying to pinpoint where the sound was from.

There, it was coming from there.

She ran towards them, finding bushes in her way. A sick feeling of dread washed over her, and she remembered her dream. She gulped in horror at her nightmare.

Telling herself that it was just a dream, she steeled herself, and began crawling underneath the bushes.

Shielding her face as something hit the dirt in front of her, she yelled as suddenly her hair was grabbed, and she was pulled upwards by a strong force.

Expecting to see a larger person, she was surprised to see a frail one, shorter than her. Her feet were only dangling because they were standing on a bench.

"_It's exactly like my dream," _she thought. _"I won't look back at Kureno who's right at our feet. I don't want to see it, I don't I don't I don't I-"  
_

"I suppose, Kureno, you were trying to save this piece of dirt from me, hmmm? I don't see why you bother, she's not that pretty at all." Akito spat, interrupting Uo's thoughts.

Kureno got to his feet slowly and turned around, his serious face wearing a red handprint from Akito's slap. Uo's eyes widened. There wasn't any blood, no stab wound in his chest. His head looked perfectly fine!

"Well just for not trusting me, maybe I _will_ hurt her!" Akito told him, almost gleefully.

But as she raised her other hand, somebody caught it. Shigure stepped into Uo's view.

"Akito! I missed you!" he exclaimed. He acted as if Kureno and Uo weren't there. Bringing a flower out from behind his back he asked Akito gently,

"Do you remember this?"

Uo stared as Akito's chin trembled, and she released Uo's hair, and crumpled to the ground. Shigure stooped, picked her up, and walked off, with a brief, sad nod at the two of them. Uo briefly heard her protesting, calling Shigure names and such. She didn't really care, because Kureno was there in front of her.

Kureno was watching them still. She stood in shock for a second more, before leaping at him. As they toppled over, she buried her face in his shirt, crying.

"Hey, what's this all about?" Kureno asked, laughing slightly. "Though I don't mind."

Uo leaned back and grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket. As he chuckled at this, she told him.

"I had a dream that had me hear you and Akito talking. I raced around, trying to find you. Only when I got to this side of the bushes," she stopped and swallowed. " You'd been stabbed repeatedly… you're head was all bloody, and you were dead." Her voice cracked on the last word.

"Ah." Kureno reached over to his right, and wincing as a thorn scraped him, he picked her a rose.

Uo smiled, and began to laugh in relief.

Quite some yards away, Shigure cradled a sleeping Akito in his arms, and watched, smiling slightly.

* * *

Kyo woke up slowly. He was dead tired, and just wanted to go back to sleep; let the oblivion take him away. He didn't want to think about what he'd done, what he still had to do.

He'd gotten them all here. Great. Everybody else would be pleased as punch.

Getting out of bed, he almost groaned as he stretched, but suppressed it. Jumping onto the window facing into the fading twilight, he stopped.

"_No, don't do it. It's hard enough as it is."_" He climbed out of the widow, but didn't make it three leaps before he turned around.

He climbed up the wall, to the window right above his. He knew she'd be here, because he'd heard the servants worrying about her as he drifted off to sleep.

Clambering in her window, he landed on the floor silently. Straightening up, he walked over to her bed. Her friends were on the other side of the bed, so he didn't have to worry about disturbing them.

He wasn't a poet or anything, but if he was, he could probably compose many poems just about the different ways the moon lit up her face.

Before he knew what he was doing, his hand was reaching towards her, and his palm found her cheek. His other, traitorous hand followed.

"Tohru," he whispered. Her face became confused, even as she slept. His thumbs rubbed her face gently, though he didn't know it.

"Kyo-kun?" she asked plaintively. He gritted his teeth, looking away. He tried to remove his hands, but Tohru's were suddenly on top of them, and he couldn't bring himself to move.

"Tohru!" he stuttered. "D-don't do that!"

She turned onto her side, pulling him along with her, as he still couldn't remove one of his hands. Luckily he got a knee under him so he didn't transform, but…

He gulped. Why did he have to say goodbye? Oh yeah, so that she wouldn't experience the pain that came with him. It almost seemed trivial now. Almost wasn't convincing enough.

"_Ok. If I just give her a k-k-_kiss_ on the cheek, then I can go."_ He thought, stumbling over the thought of a kiss. He hadn't kissed anybody before, not even on the cheek. Which was an accomplishment with Kagura around every Valentines Day, Christmas, and birthday for his birthday kisses…

But it proved very hard to leave when, after he kissed her on the cheek, a tear slipped out from her eye.

Rushing to the window he jumped out, trying not to dwell on the fact that it seemed like she almost knew he was saying goodbye.

* * *

Yuki was looking through the records that had been brought along, checking to see that they hadn't been damaged. The other council members had long gone, though Machi was still there. Manabe was snoring in the corner.

Yuki put down the paper he was looking at, and reached for the next document.

Not really paying attention, he began reading the heading. Yet another one of these old letters...

He rubbed his suddenly alert eyes, and re-read the page.

Machi looked over at him, questioningly, noticing that he wasn't looking as sleepy as he had been a moment ago.

Yuki stared down at the paper, his eyes wide. He pulled out the next two papers behind it, looked at it, then back at the first one. The first page was slightly newer looking than the next two after it.

Machi came over, wondering why he was looking so entirely shocked.

He handed her the two older papers, then began to read the newer paper again.

"T-this is, does this mean what I think it means?" Machi asked in a shocked whisper. Yuki nodded.

"We'd better tell the council first, or maybe Hatori and Shigure."

Machi nodded. "But tomorrow. These papers have waited 19 years, it won't hurt them for another day or so."

Yuki nodded, and looked at Manabe. "Do you think he'd appreciate being woken up, or being left alone more?"

Machi chuckled tiredly, and shook her head. "Just leave him, he'd probably whine all the way."

* * *

There were lots of flowers. Lush grass, blue skies with puffy clouds, all of them looked beautiful.

A song was playing somewhere. It seemed extremely sad...

She opened her mouth, but a hand covered it. Turning, she saw Kyo-kun and blinked. Instead of his black, or red, he was in white. She looked at herself, and found she was in her regular clothing.

Kyo's face was anguished, and he stepped away. She reached after him.

But before he took more than a few steps he stopped. He covered his ears, as if trying to tell somebody that he didn't want to hear it. He turned back, and grabbed her as if to hug her.

He kissed her cheek, and without looking back, ran off. He disappeared into a black cloud, which rumbled ominously.

"Kyo-kun!" she sat down with a thump, and a tear escaped her eyes.

Tohru was being shaken. She shook her head, trying to stay in the dream. If she stayed, he might come back.

"She wants him to come back," Hana's voice said, sounding close.

"Well we can go seem _him_ as soon as she wakes up!" Came Uo's voice. "Come on Tohru, Hana says we have to wake you up _now!_"

Tohru opened her eyes, eyes frantic.

"He's gone!" she whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"Of course he's not!" Uo scoffed. It was just a dream, you know that!"

"Actually, he is," Hana murmured, hugging Tohru.

"Who is he?" Uo asked.

"Kyo-kun!" Tohru sobbed.

"But, he was exhausted, he couldn't have left!" Uo thought, hugging Tohru.

* * *

This long delay is really why I wanted to write it all out and then start posting. But then I started getting nervous, so I posted the story before my nerves stopped me!

There's a lil purple button that we all know and love. Please, tell me what you think. If I've gotten bad at writing, you have Kyo-kun, whateva!


	14. Chapter 14

Aaah, I updated yes, but then I got busy again! Gomen nasai minna-san!

Driver's Ed and WORK! sigh But, I get paid and I'm therefore not broke anymore!

**Chapter 14**

Kagura closed her eyes, and slowly ate a piece. Her eyes widened when she tasted Tohru's strawberry shortcake.

"This is delicious Tohru-chan!!" she exclaimed. Tohru stuttered, her hands stopping their motions of cleaning the kitchen sink.

"Nonsense Tohru-chan! Could I have the recipe? Pretty, pretty please?" Kagura begged, making her gray eyes really big.

Tohru nodded. "Of course Kagura-san! You do that really well, it reminds me of a kitten!" She laughed.

"I've been working on it for months to get it just so! I was sure Kyo-kun would kiss me if I asked him like that!" Kagura explained.

Tohru's laughter, which had been dying off, stopped all together, and she began writing down the recipe.

As Tohru was writing it down, Kagura studied her new friend. She, who had been cooking for a while was amazed at Tohru's skill. But she was also skilled at things besides cooking. For example, making others feel better. Just last week she had seen Ritsu dressing in men's' clothing the entire day!

But… Tohru's face was pale and drawn. There was something wrong, and Kagura couldn't think of it. Was she homesick? Did she worry about her engagement? It couldn't be because of Kyo-kun could it? She had stopped laughing when she mentioned him…

"Ah, here you are Kagura!" Tohru exclaimed, handing her the recipe.

Kagura smiled at her, then told her goodbye as a servant came to inform that an important person had requested she join

* * *

Manabe sighed. No response. He sighed again. Still nothing!

Yuki glanced at him, and then looked straight ahead again. What was with him and Machi? They were both so serious! More than usual he meant.

He had a suspicion though, that it had to do with whatever they'd seen that one night he'd been pretending to be asleep. That had been two weeks ago, and since then they'd been talking with each other in quiet, serious tones. They hadn't even told him to get to work when he'd pretended to fall asleep.

"Hey YunYun! Why're you and Machi so quiet? Is it because you two did something I wouldn't do, huh? Did something _serious _happen?"

Machi's face remained still, though he thought he detected a faint hint of pink as he continued. He didn't get the chance to find out if she WAS blushing or not, because he was suddenly on the floor with a few _horribly painful_ bumps on his head.

"It wasn't anything LIKE that!" Machi exclaimed.

"You're supposed to be her BROTHER!!" Yuki exclaimed. "If you thought something like that happened you wouldn't be asking in this idiotic way! You're just as bad as Shigure!"

Manabe blinked.

"uh… sure YunYun. Whatever you say!" he said, wincing as he felt his head. He followed them as they continued on their walk.

"_Who knew that Yuki was that strong?_

As he walked into the council room, he blinked when he saw Akito there, with Hatori and Shigure, as well as many nobles from the entire country.

"Ah, there you are!" Shigure said brightly.

"Why'd you have me call all the nobles available to a council?" A tall skinny noble asked sharply.

Silently, Yuki and Machi handed over some papers to Hatori and Akito. Hatori's face didn't change as he read it, but Akito's eyes widened. Kureno, standing behind her, put his hand on her shoulder, and she seemed to calm down, but it didn't change the look her eyes.

After the two of them had both read all the papers, Akito nodded at Hatori, who stood.

* * *

"Grandfather?" Tohru asked, gaping at the old man.

"Hello Kyoko," he greeted her, then corrected himself. "Tohru."

Tohru hugged the older man, and then bombarded him with questions, sitting him down and serving him tea.

He answered them all, but was looking at her carefully. She looked paler than he remembered. Hana's letter was true.

"Tohru, I'm glad that you are so concerned about me, but I really came here to talk to you about something."

Tohru glanced at her father sharply, before staring down at her teacup. _"There's no way he knows about Kyo-kun," _she told herself. _"And besides, I'm to marry Hatori-san. Even if I could allow myself to love Kyo-kun, it wouldn't be right."_

"Tohru, did I not tell you that you could choose who you were to marry? If you don't want to marry Hatori, you don't have to."

Tohru's attention was all on her grandfather now. "You… you never told me that Grandfather," she whispered, eyes huge.

"Didn't I? I apologize my dear," her grandfather said.

"But…" Tohru's eyes burned. "Even if I could choose, I can't. I really can't because…" Tohru stopped as her voice cracked, unable to continue.

"Ah, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Akito-sama called for you Grandfather. They're in the council room right now," Kagura spoke up, her head sticking in the doorway.

Nodding, he stood up and walked out of the room, leaving a speechless Tohru behind.

"I can't," Tohru whispered.

* * *

"Ah sorry I'm late," Tohru's grandfather spoke from the doorway. "But I was told you called for me."

"We have evidence here, that Akito-sama is not the rightful king of this kingdom," Hatori said solemnly.

Hatori explained whom the true king was, and that they would coronate him at Midnight of June 30. Of course they were all invited, and further information would be released later.

As the people filed out, Yuki heard Hatori mutter, "Undoubtedly, he will have mixed reactions to the news. But first, we need to find him."

* * *

Kyo twirled a pinecone in his hand. Relaxing for the moment. Its color reminded him of Tohru's eyes. He grimaced, and twirled the pinecone faster, wishing.

Then he wouldn't be the cat. Then he... He'd been the illegitimate one; the one born to the woman his father had been having an affair with. His eyes closed as he crushed the pinecone. He thrust thoughts of Tohru away, and sat up. It was no use imagining what could have been.

Time to see how competent those ninja's watching him near by were.

* * *

Tohru stood in front of Hatori, Mayu at her side.

"And so, you see Hatori-san, it's not that I don't like you!" she said, trying to explain without offending him.

"It's ok, Tohru-san," Hatori told her, smiling gently.

Mayu's knees went weak, and she scolded herself.

Tohru nodded, and whispered a farewell, as she went to join her friends.

Mayu was going to follow, but Hatori caught her hand. As she looked back at him, he looked out to the garden.

"Walk with me?"

* * *

"Ayame! Look! Ha'ri and Mayu are in the garden!"

"Yes! Oh don't they look splendid together? What shall we do Gure-san? Should we trip Mayu into Tori-san's arms? Maybe grab Hatori's daily log and _accidentally_ ramble on about how adorable his drawing of Mayu's face is?" Ayame exclaimed.

"I think that last will do. Hatori changing into a seahorse can come later! Let us race off and fight the villainy of the curse!! Victory for LOVE!!"

They passed Haru and Rin, who were just about to enter the gardens.

"What are those idiots up to?" Rin asked, looking at the two racing off into the maze on their left..

"Something about victory for love." Haru replied, his thumb stoking Rin's hand.

"Whatever," Rin muttered, rolling her eyes.

"What about us? We could kiss and make up," Haru told her, scooting closer.

Rin's face flamed.

"Haru! Not here!" Rin whispered vehemently. Haru shrugged and kissed her anyway.

* * *

"Tori-san! I must congratulate you, I never had any idea!" Ayame said exuberantly, bounding over to the healing couple. His smile was the size of Russia, and his confidence sparkled all around him.

"What are you talking about?" Hatori said, his face remaining blank.

"Why your adorable artwork! Here, let me show you!" Ayame opened a book, and shoved it into their faces. Somehow it ended up more in front of Mayu's face than Hatori's.

"What? What's this?" Mayu asked, grinning.

"It appears to be a rose," Hatori said, tugging the book towards him so he could see.

"Oh no, it wasn't THAT picture I admired so much Ha'ri! Though that rose is gorgeous!" Shigure spoke, joining the group. "It was the one on the next page, --heeeey no fair!"

Hatori had jerked the book away, muttering about interfering friends.

Shigure was no describing to Mayu exactly what he thought about the picture that he had tried to show her.

"Why it absolutely stole my breath! The love, the-"

"Shigure, if I find you have looked through any of my books again, I shall personally tell your editor where you keep all your completed manuscripts."

Shigure froze.

As crocodile tears ran down his cheeks, he complained, "You're no fun Ha-riiiii!"

As he and Ayame walked away, he whispered to Ayame, "Now I know where Yuki learns to smile! Ha'ri's was TEN TIMES worse than the one Yuki gave when he assigned Ritsu as my secretary! It could have frozen fire!"

Mayu looked at Hatori.

"I didn't know you could draw. That rose just grew off the page!"

"Uhm, well, I took a class when I was younger, thinking it might be useful if I needed something and had to send another person."

"Right…"

* * *

sigh Finished! Aren't we all happy! FIREWORKS SHALL BURST TONIGHT BECAUSE OF MY UPDATE!!

(They did seriously! I just was unable to POST the chapter…TT)

I hope you guys liked this chapter, thanks for reading!

Ayame: EVERYBODY! IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!

The author is becoming discouraged!! She fears that her writing is going downhill!

We must encourage her to write a heartwarming scene with Yuki and I forming a brotherly bond!

So you MUST review!!

Aria-chan: AYAME!! Don't tell all the nice people that! Go talk to Manabe or something. Better yet, make me a new modest wardrobe with Mine, she's telling me I need summer clothes.

Ja ne


	15. Chapter 15

Funny story: I was sitting at the computer writing and took off my glasses. A few minutes later, I tried to find them only to find they had vanished! Somehow they had made it all the way upstairs to my room where I'd been reading earlier. But I didn't remember returning to my room after writing anything. See how absent-minded I am! I've done many things like that many many times to…

I always have to wonder how Hiro and Ayame would get along. Probably not too well, but I always wonder and attempt to picture it. Laugh

**Chapter 15**

Kneeling by a cold stream, Kyo mechanically turned out the pockets of one of his spare pairs of pants. He paused, and pulled out a piece of cloth.

"I forgot to give this to Tohru," he muttered. Shrugging, he washed it along with the rest of his clothes. Wincing, he rubbed his hands together vigorously before he picked up his wet clothing and found places to hang then.

Spring had come and gone halfway in the valleys, but he was up in a mountain area. The spring he'd been using to wash his clothing had just barely unfrozen.

Sitting on a sun warmed rock, he closed his eyes. They snapped open immediately, when all he saw was Tohru smiling at him.

* * *

Humming happily, Tohru packed away her last kimono. Her grandfather had deemed it time to go back, so that Tohru could be initiated as a journeyman healer. They wouldn't be leaving until tomorrow, but they would be leaving early in the morning.

Smiling, she turned to her window, and looked outside. A flash of orange caught her eye, and her head snapped towards it. But it was only a hat of one of the ladies in the courtyard.

Blinking, she laughed nervously, saying, "I can understand Kagura's feelings about Kyo being away now."

A maid came in, and murmured that she could finish up the rest of the packing. Nodding her thanks, Tohru walked slowly out the door and down the stairs, trying to think of something besides Kyo.

"AAAH!!" Tohru gasped, tripping.

"Watch it!" Hiro yelped, turning aside and letting Tohru fall.

"Ah," the person behind Hiro said, looking down in surprise before turning into their zodiac animal.

"Onee-chan!" Kisa knelt down by a dazed Tohru and helped her up.

"I'm fine Kisa," Tohru said, her eyes spinning slightly. Looking down she gasped.

"WAAAAATTTEEERRRR!! AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME IF IT WAS SEA WATER OR FRESH WATER HATORIIIIII-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!! WHICH IS IT?"

"Calm down stupid woman," Hiro said boredly, while Kisa stood there looking around and wondering what to do.

"Here!" Ritsu ran up the stairs and shoved a bucket at them, full to the brim.

Frantically Tohru almost threw Hatori into the bucket.

"Isn't that…buttermilk?" Kisa asked, as everybody froze and stared at the bucket.

BOOOOOM!!

The bucket burst apart, spilling the buttermilk all over the stairs, and a naked Hatori stood in the middle of a cloud, dripping in buttermilk.

As Hiro turned Kisa's head away and Tohru turned around, Shigure and Ayame appeared, dragging Mayu by the hand saying that Hatori had insisted he needed to see her!

"SHIIGURE-NIISAAAAN!! IT IS MY ENTIRE FAULT THAT HATORI IS DRIPPING IN BUTTERMILK AND NAKED ON THE STAIRS!! PLEASE PUNISH ME NOW FOR SUCH A DISGRACEFUL AAAAACCCCCTTTT!!" Ritsu was screaming. He'd been better at not apologizing for every little thing in such a manners, but he every once in a while, he'd forget everything and slip back into his old way.

Shigure tactfully poked Ritsu in the side, while Ayame handed Hatori a spare kimono in the clearing smoke. Mayu's face was extremely red and turned away.

In the silence that followed, Hatori's dry voice seemed extra loud.

"Why am I the only one who has to be wet whenever I change?"

Ayame's reply came immediately.

"Think of it this way! At least you don't shred your clothing each time like Haru! Why think of the horrendous bill! OW!"

"Shut up you stupid snake," Hiro muttered. "I had to go through the trouble of kicking you so don't make me do it again! We don't need your useless chatter and –"

"Hiro?"

"Sorry."

"No, Hiro, I think Onee-chan and Mayuko-san needs some help," Kisa, told him, turning towards the bottom of the stairs.

Tohru had tried to stand up, only to slip on the buttermilk and topple into Mayu.

"Well isn't this exciting!" Shigure said, grinning. "I think I need to go get some towels and such, why don't you two come with me?"

Dragging Hiro and Kisa by the hand, he winked at Ayame, who promptly grabbed the still unconscious Ritsu, and Tohru as he passed, and followed Shigure.

This left Hatori with an unconscious Mayu. Hatori hurried down the steps, grimacing as buttermilk dripped off of him. Reaching Mayu, he knelt down and examined her, making sure she wasn't hurt.

Spotting Kagura passing by, he called to her and asked that a bath be prepared in his rooms. Nodding, she rushed off, but didn't Mayu.

Hatori picked up Mayu, carried her to his office, and gently laid her down on the couch. Opening a side door, he walked into his rooms to take the bath.

* * *

Shigure sighed, and released the young couple. "There now, Hatori and Mayu shall have some quality time together! How about you two do the same, ok?"

"What was with you dragging us all the way here just to tell us to do something that we'd already made plans for? Have you not noticed that we don't need to be told how to get together? Are you just stupid or too self centered to notice anything?"

"Hii-kun, you could at least thank Gure-san for his wonderful advice!" Ayame proclaimed, arriving with Ritsu and Tohru.

"What do you know you stupid snake?" Hiro demanded.

Kisa finally spoke up.

"Hiro, it's really ok, I think it's nice of Shigure-ojisan **2 **to try and help us."

"You're forgiven," Hiro said. After a few struggling moments he muttered something close to a sorry before running off, Kisa jogging after him, a slight smile on her face.

* * *

Akito roamed through the hallways, her eyes staring ahead blankly. She didn't know what to do, now that she was no longer a ruler. She couldn't grasp the fact that _she_ was the illegitimate one, and that for the first time since the Sohma's had begun to rule, the cat and not the god, had been the rightful king.

Kureno approached silently, but seeing her, he deliberately made noise. She started, and looked around before spotting him.

Her mouth twisted into the kind of smile that expressed so many feelings that are hard to name.

"You don't have to obey me you know. You can just leave me, like I begged you not to that time."

Kureno stayed still, his mind racing, thinking that she was freeing him from what he'd hesitated to beg for.

"_She….she's freeing me."_

"_I had thought to try-"_

And now that she had, his emotions were different than what he'd steeled himself to prepare for.

"Well? What are you waiting for? GO!! Go with your precious girl; find happiness!! " She yelled at him. Slumping down against the wall, she muttered, "Just leave me like a piece of trash, it doesn't matter."

Finally moving, Kureno knelt down beside her. Taking her hand, he gripped it firmly; his thanks expressed that way.

"Akito… I'll come back and visit you if you wish."

Shigure found her still frozen, and staring after the person no longer there.

She abruptly turned to him, eyes wide. She grabbed him, needing to be reassured like a child.

"Shigure, am I worth something? Am I not a piece of trash, even though I'm no longer…"

"Of course not," Shigure told her, pulling her into a hug. "You don't need to be ruler to be something more than trash. You simply need to live and strive to be better."

Haltingly, she sighed, and let the warm tears trickle down her cheeks finally.

* * *

Takako easily ascended the stairway, into the hospital. Seeing a bed guarded, he made his way over.

The guards moved aside at his approach. He stood and stared down at the captured messenger, before closing his eyes, and turning to the guards.

"When the doctor says he's ready to go, let him out peacefully, and send him on his way.

The guards nodded respectfully, and watched as he walked out.

"What do you think that was about?" The younger one asked. His companion shrugged, saying that it was none of their business. So long as he wasn't sent out to fight, he didn't care.

* * *

"Wasn't I supposed to be helping downstairs?" Mayu thought, sitting up and looking around.

"Mayu!" Ayame whispered. But for Ayame, a whisper is only barely below normal tones. Hatori instructed me to tell you to go through that door there when you woke up!" He pointed to the side door.

Perhaps it was simply because she had just woken up. For some reason, she didn't think of the increasing number of attempts to get her and Hatori together these past few months.

Pulling the door open she gasped and looked up. The gently spiraling lines of blue, green and gold led to a beautiful scene on the ceiling, a mixture of underwater and land scenery. Somehow it didn't look wrong together, but merged to make a beautiful whole. It gently dragged the mind away from its normal routes, and led it down a peaceful path that relaxed.

She moved into the room, but tripped over something at knee height. Sprawling onto the bed that she had not seen, she gasped.

"Sorry about that," Mayu apologized.

"It was a simple mistake," Hatori murmured, straightening out the lapels of his white doctors coat.

"I just woke up and Ayame told me that you'd told him to tell me to go through that door…" Mayu mumbled.

"Seeing as how you'd just taken a tumble down the stairs, I can't blame you," Hatori assured her, moving over to stand in front of her.

For some reason, Hatori was extremely handsome at this moment, not that she hadn't noticed before. His hair was still slightly damp from its recent washing, and the smell of his particular type of soap was stronger than usual.

"How're you feeling?" He asked her, his voice professional.

"I'm feeling ok. I am a Master Healer," she reminded him absently. "You're shaking, are you cold?"

"No," he whispered, inching closer and gently grasping her hands.

They both stared at each other, before Hatori falteringly, closed the distance between their faces. Mayu couldn't move an inch, shock and his nearness immobilizing her. Despite all her differences from her more feminine friend Kana, she was still a female.

Finally they connected. They were kissing, for the first time. Her eyes closed, she kissed him back, her hold on his hands tightening as his did the same. The kiss was short, and sweet.

"My hands are crushed," she whispered, moving back a little. He nodded briefly, before kissing her again. He released her hands and they moved to the back of her neck, his thumbs caressing her cheeks.

She shivered and her fingers now released, ran through his hair.

He eased off gently, and rested his forehead against hers.

"Beautiful," he said, not caring if she heard.

Shaking his head, he pressed a kiss to her cheek and murmured, "I think I'll let Ayame off this time.

She frowned, her dazed mind not comprehending. Finally remember she laughed.

"I hope this isn't a dream that I'll wake up from in that room over there. I'd be tempted to try and conspire with Ayame and Shigure then, in the hopes my dream was true, and you did, do care for me," Mayu murmured.

"If this is a dream, then why exactly would I have to ignore Ayame over there grinning at us from the doorway." Hatori didn't move still.

"Ahahaha, I have been discovered!" Ayame laughed. "I'll be off to tell Shigure our fun is over now, then!"

"Idiot," Mayu murmured.

"We'll thank them indirectly later."

* * *

Tohru and her group were just headed out the door, when a frantic messenger came barging through the doors.

"Kyo Sohma has been captured, and Healer Takako demands The Grandfather meet him before they return him."

* * *

**2 **Oji-san can mean uncle or grandpa, depending on how long you hold the 'ee' sound. (shorter is uncle. Two i's is grandpa) (And I think that's why in the anime Kisa calls them Grandpa instead of uncle)

_**NEWS FLASH! I REPEAT!**__ An epidemic has been running rampant throughout for some time now, as you may know! It is rendering people unable to review! Immunize yourselves now, and do not fall prey to this inability to review!_

Though it might be that because I don't update frequently… gomen ne minna-san!

Or…Horror of HORRORS! This story isn't very interesting and only a few people are able to continue reading and…!! is smacked and comes back to self

Just please review. Review for Momiji!:

(don't know if he showed up but it's supposed to be a bunny of some sort! I don't know exactly how to make them but it's a good attempt!)

thanks for reading, don't forget to review! PLEASE!!

Ja!


	16. Chapter 16

I promised myself that I would always finish the story. I would never just put up a little chapter telling you all how things ended.

**Chapter 16**

_"Kyo-kun..."_

Stiffled sobs echoed eerily around him. His hands in his pockets, he looked around the forest indifferently. The deadened branches and moss hanging from the trees created a gloomy air.

"_Kyo-kun."_

He turned away from the voice, ignoring it. Something in his pocket burned. The view in front of him shifted.

"Tohru!"

* * *

"Kyo-kun?" Tohru whispered, twisting her head to look behind her. Her heart thumped unevenly.

Her grandfather paused. "Tohru?"The men around them shifted, uncomfortable in the enemy camp.

"I," Tohru stammered, "I didn't mean to stop you, please, continue!"

She tried not to let her gaze wander about the enemy camp. Ahead of them were only nondescript tents, the grayish brown color depressing. Mud squelched around their boots. Above, the bright blue sky was the only hopeful thing.

_"I should stop imagining things,"_ Tohru told herself sternly, schooling her features the best she could. Her smile felt fake.

As they approached the middle of the camp, Tohru tried not to stare at her feet; her knees were suddenly not supporting her as well as they should. Her breath shortened; she tried not to gasp. Nerves could kill.

"You. Stay." Tohru glanced at the person stopping her, then looked around wildly for her Grandfather.

"Please stay, Tohru," her grandfather asked, smiling reassuringly. She nodded nervously, watching as he entered a large tent.

_"The anxiety - the anxiety is really strong!" _Tohru thought, glancing nervously around her. Oh she wished Uo and Hana could've come!

* * *

"Takako, what are you thinking?" The Grandfather demanded, his benevolent old face concerned. "People are dying."

Takako snorted, and folded his arms. "I'm getting paid well. It's not like you didn't know me when you let me loose on the world. Tea?"

Shaking his head, The Grandfather sat down in front of his former pupil.

"What do you want of me?" he asked softly, sipping his tea.

Takako's face hardened. "After all these years; what else have I worked for but to buy my parents back! You yourself were the one to tell me that my parents had been sold as slaves by the government when they didn't pay their debt!" Leaning forward he stared into the Grandfather's eyes._ "Where are my parents old man_? "

Tohru's grandfather looked down.

"It grieves me so, that you have done such things. Your parents' note was indeed truthful. But as to their whereabouts I do not know. I lost track of them years ago; some shady business, the transaction was unknown to me until too late."

He looked up at Takako, sorrowfully.

"I'm sorry."

Takako smirked.

"Too late."

"I found my parents years ago, as names carved into a crude wooden marker. They were two among many – a common grave."

"I've already taken your granddaughter captive."

Standing up, chuckled. "Your tea was poisoned. Once you're gone, nobody will know my past."

"But no, you won't be hearing my monologue of all my plans and reasons as you die. I'm just going to leave you here and send in the servants for your carcass. Goodbye, grandfather."

* * *

Tohru stumbled backwards, before turning and running away from some of the enemy soldiers. Shouts raised behind her, spurring her on quicker. Reaching the edge of the camp, she dodged between trees, wishing she had Kyo's ability to jump into them and move quickly.

Tripping, she caught herself by grabbing onto a tree branch. With a snap and rustle, Tohru was caught up into the branches, trapped in a net.

Breathing heavily, Tohru waited, as the shouts grew closer and closer.

"_What about grandpa?" _Tohru wondered, gasping as the soldiers came into view...and went on... and didn't come back.

"EH?"

* * *

Hatori flipped through the papers Yuki had given him. It was hard to believe that Kyo was actually king. But even Kureno had confirmed it was true...

_Years earlier_

Akira coughed slightly, as he walked towards the room where his children were. One was a girl, the other a boy. The boy had been first, but if it was Ren's or his wife's he didn't know.

He clenched his hand as suddenly he became dizzy. Knowing that he was supposed to be dead, that it was a miracle he'd survived this long, he wondered if he would ever see his children…

Exhausted as she was, Ren sat up. Her maid, who'd helped deliver her child, would help her in her plan.

She walked to the room where the two royal newborns slept. Hers may not be legitimate, but she was still royalty. Picking up her baby daughter, she smiled. Nobody except Akira, her, and her maid knew Akito was a girl. And that's how it would remain. Her daughter would rule, she was born first! Or so she would make everybody believe.

Setting Akito down, she turned to the boy, a hint of orange fuzz on his head. Picking him up, she fingered the dagger in her hands. She was startled, when he suddenly turned into a disgusting little thing. Was that a kitten?

Oh yes, she knew for certain now that her daughter was supposed to rule. For the cat was not a ruler.

But, she would not kill the boy. He deserved all the disgrace he could get, for daring to be a boy and first. AND legitimate.

Sighing, she knew she needed to sleep before she carried out her plan. She would need to convince Akira. And if that other woman complained, it wouldn't matter, because Akira decided. Akira wouldn't listen to her either, because he didn't care for her. Arranged marriages didn't always end up with love, unlike all those tales.

She climbed back into bed, and thought,

"_I WILL be the greater woman in this kingdom and in Akira's eyes."_

She was shocked, when moments after she had settled back into bed, her maid burst into her room, and breathlessly told her that Akira-san and his wife were dead!

Ren jumped up.

"WHAT?" She screeched.

6 months later, after she had made sure that her daughter would rule, she died of a broken heart.

* * *

Kyo frowned, watching as a ruckus arose in the camp. He couldn't see what had started it, but they looked like they were following somebody.

Come to think of it, why was Takako a familiar name? Sighing, Kyo sat back and tried to remember.

* * *

Long time no see!!

Sorry for the long long long LONG wait! _**But thank you **_for those of you who read and gave reviews tell me to continue, I did read them and I did try to work on this chapter every time I read the reviews!

I even had to re-read it all though, because I got a block while attempting so many times to write this chapter! I made some little tiny changes, though nothing really big. I left it as it was for the most part!

But This story is more than two years old! I was a freshman when I started this... January 9th is the date i started it (which i remember oddly for some reason...I wrote it down somewhere i think)

Anyhow, I hope you forgive me and enjoyed the chapter!


	17. Chapter 17

**Merry Christmas!** And for those who celebrate other holidays, happy hanukah, kwanza, erm... **Happy Holidays!** (but don't go so far in protesting discrimination that you discriminate as well!)

**Chapter 17**

"So who're we supposed to send? Kyo's the one we'd usually send, but he's the one we're trying to get!"

"And June 30th is coming up as well."

Yuki sighed and rubbed his forehead as Kisa and Hiro's footsteps faded away. He wasn't entirely sure, but it didn't seem like Kyo was away on orders right now. It seemed more like he'd run away.

"Even gone he's causing problems. Baka neko."

"Yuki! There you are!" Shigure exclaimed, poking his head around the door frame. "We've-"

"YES! Yuki my gorgeous little brother, it can only be YOU!" Ayame appeared beside Shigure, and continued. "Nobody else but my esteemed younger brother who shines almost as brightly as my glorious self-"

"Nii-san."

"-can do this arduous, extraordinary task. Though he is fair from ordinary, he does have extra, pizazz, ZING, -"

"Nii-san!"

"- For truly he is my younger brother! I, The Charismatic Clothes Maker -"

"NII-SAN!!" Yuki finally raised his voice over the gregarious chatter his brother delighted in making.

"But why ever are you shouting, Yuki?" Ayame asked, calmly sipping tea in a chair across the table from his brother. His face blatantly confused, he watched Yuki with puzzled eyes. Yuki rested his head on the table, tired.

"Did you fall asleep while talking to me, and in the throes of a deathly grip in your dream - , "Ayames' face grew animated, "-called out for your older brother to save you?!"

The table shuddered as Ayame stood, about to reach to embrace his younger brother.

"Ayame. Get to the point, please. This is serious." Hatori's voice rapped out from where he stood, heretofore unnoticed in the door way. Walking to the table where the two brothers sat, he placed a calendar down. Notes on all of Kyo's missions since he began joined the calendar, where a date was circled in bright red.

"We need to find Kyo. Now."

TTTTTTTTTT  
"Takako...errant, skilled healer...lost parents...hates The Grandfather."

"That's about it," Kyo muttered, standing up. Glancing back at the enemy camp in the falling dusk, he shook his head. He started walking, wondering what particular motive drove this guy. Kyo didn't claim to be a normal human. But why did this guy mete out disease like candy, with the enthusiasm of a doting grandfather?

But he was past wondering. His feet began to beat a faster rhythm against the ground, as he circled the camp. He figured he should just take out the crazy man even if his orders didn't say so – the world without this guy wouldn't be worse off.

The tattoos in his hands warmed, flames seeming to lick at his hands in a cold way. Murder, there really was not another word for it. He'd not really murdered since - He ignored the thought, his mind centered on his plan, the one he'd spent the day concocting, the month before considering.

Entering the camp he avoided people, zipping through the tents lightly as the breeze. His gaze zeroed in, his eyes caught the flutter of a tent flap: the huge tent. Why were they always so silly, putting up a marker saying "COME KILL ME I'M IN HERE!"? Swooping closer, he listened for noises. Nothing, but still...

Ducking inside, he probed the darkness with his senses. His eyes landed on a still figure. Sliding closer, Kyo realized in surprise the form of the Grandfather. Kneeling he placed his fingers next to the mans neck, careful not to put his thumb on the other side. A faint heartbeat struggled against his fingers. Swinging the man up, he figured Takako could wait.

Edging underneath the edge of the tent, he faced the number of tents between him and the forest. Setting off, he carried the man over his shoulder like potatoes. Looking annoyed, he dragged his feet, muttering that this wasn't his business, but why did he have to do this alone? He pilfered a shovel on his way out.

Nobody really noticed, and Kyo reached the trees safely. He discarded the shovel casually as if he was simple searching for a good spot. As soon as he was out of sight he raced through the trees, forgetting that he'd left without orders, forgetting that he'd be in trouble, but not quite forgetting that this man was Tohru's grandfather.

TTTTTT

Trailing lovingly down its middle, the water droplet bid the leaf farewell, and raced downwards to a pale nose. The person started in surprise, and the water droplet lept gleefully apart and continued on in its never ending cycle.

Tohru held a steadying hand to her chest, as her heart raced. She shook slightly, her previously calm heart not liking the abrupt change of pace. Looking around, Tohru thought her position through – last night had been spent in this same position, wondering what to do, but she was her because...

She'd been chased away from her grandfather and gotten herself stuck in this tree, like a coward. Her mouth trembled, as she realized that her Grandfather was most likely...dead.

It didn't take any time to view it as a truth, it hit her a gasp, fat tears gathered in her eyes, spilling over quickly. She shook with quiet sobs, hugging herself tightly. Her loving grandfather. He'd always taken time for her, always looked out for her.

"Don't," she moaned through her tears. Don't cry, don't think of it, don't leave, it didn't matter; the word wasn't part of any sentence. Her mind was too numbed with grief for that. It was only a part of her grief, escaping to ease the pain.

TTTTTTT

Absently looking around the kitchen, Kagura hummed a little. Now where was -AHA! She grasped the cute little recipe book Tohru had given her, and flipped back to the right page. She missed Tohru, but she was surely well and safe at home now.

Ah, and Kyo-kun wasn't back yet either! She frowned. Kyo should be back soon, or else the coronation would have to be put off. He wouldn't miss that, would he?

"Thank you Kagura-chan," Ritsu said gratefully, bringing her back from her thoughts. His fingers were slightly gooey from picking out the myriad of tiny shell bits. He smiled beatifically at Kagura as he stirred.

"I've been able to get better, but still people fear my outbursts, so I have little to do anymore."

"It's no problem Rit-chan!" Kagura assured him, throwing fluffed cups of flour into the bowl as well. "Now lets hurry and get this cake finished!"

_Kyo... please be safe._

TTTTTTT

"So we think that he'll possibly have gone here," Hatori finished. "We can't exactly be sure, because we don't know why he left, or what he plans to do. But it's a place to start."

Yuki nodded as he shed piles of extra clothes that Ayame kept bringing him. Throughout the meeting, Ayame had been flitting in and out of the room, arguing excitedly with Mine about what to add. Haru, passing by had been drafted to help carry.

"Nii-san, I've already got enough, any more and I won't be able to travel without a horse!"

"Horses... but a cow should work well enough, right Yuki?" Haru slung an arm over Yuki's shoulder. He pointed at himself with his thumb, his face the normal serious expression it usually was.

"Haru, knowing you, we'd probably come home with two half killed guys months after the coronation. We need Kyo here next week. We don't even know where he is." Yuki reminded him.

"Kyo gone, without orders...a mystery" Haru said. "Well, lets get going! We can't let him wallow in misery forever."

His hand at his forehead, Hatori nodded. "Just get going Yuki."

TTTTT

"Has the grandfather's body been disposed of?"

"Yes sir, I myself saw a man carrying him out of camp, with a shovel to bury him with."

"What about the girl?"

The guard's face blanched. Nervously, he cleared his throat.

"The girl has not been caught yet sir. We were gaining ground but she just disappeared!"

"I didn't ask for excuses, I asked for _results_." Takako's icy stare bored into the guard.

"As the daughter of an important healer, she might be important herself, no?"

"Yes sir, we'll get on it right away!" The guard walked shamefaced to the tent doorway. When he reached it, he hurriedly called his men to him.

TTTT

I changed the title yes, but hopefully it only makes those of use who're grammatically correct fans happier. (It's been bugging me since the beginning. so borrow became lend)

I think my favorite part of this chapter was writing Ayame and his enthusiasm. I love his energy, charisma, whatever it is. The expression of dramatic feeling with no shame, I admire that!

The style may not be exactly right, and I worry most about Tohru's character in this chapter, but I think I stayed fairly true to the characters.

What do you guys think? Thoughts are greatly appreciated!


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The tree branches slapped against Kyo's arms and face as he scrambled through the trees. A sharp pain screamed through his muscles with every step, and the cool air burned in his lungs.

Looking at the Grandfather's face though, made things worse. His old, wizened face reminded him of Tohru. Kyo tried not to remember the night he'd carried Tohru like this, of what had happened around that time. His face flamed when he remembered waking up in the tower, and even worse when he thought of when he left her.

"Tohru," Kyo muttered under his breath. It was supposed to sound derisive, but it only sounded like he missed her. His heart ached.

The castle loomed up ahead. Stopping at the edge of the forest, Kyo hesitated. As a cloud drifted across the moon, he darted towards the gates. He put the Grandfather down, pounded fiercely on the wood, then ran.

* * *

Reclining against throw pillows as he looked at a puzzle, Takako sighed in irritation. Why was he surrounded by idiots? The world seemed to be devoid of many intelligent persons, the Grandfather even in the end proving less smart than he. That's why it didn't matter to him. The world was meaningless without other true intelligence to stir his own brain into a struggle to best.

He glanced at the general next to him. There was always one with him, though they traded places occasionally. It grated on his nerves that he had to be watched all the time. He would set people to watch someone like him, but he detested the feeling of being treated like a naughty child on probation.

The general smiled politely at him, before continuing to eat his lunch. For a general, he seemed to not be thinking too seriously about anything. In his place, Takako would be constantly thinking about strategy, and thinking up counter plans for battle, not to mention watching this powerful ally who wasn't quite trusted.

But he did that now even without being in the generals shoes.

"We've er, found her sir" The man looked uncomfortable, but Takako ignored it.

"It doesn't matter. Just keep her with us while I decide what to do with her." Waving his hand dismissively, Takako sat up straighter in his chair. The guard stumbled out, still sweating.

"Get the camp ready to move, we're going to pay a social visit." Turning to the general next to him Takako smiled. The general eyed him, curiosity absent in his assessing gaze.

"Obviously the bluff worked. Their Heartless Fire must've been gone when the message arrived so they didn't suspect."

"The Grandfather is dead, their armies are dying by thousands with my disease, and their hope of any real retaliation is gone. We can crush them now."

Nodding curtly, the general stood up. His habit of communicating without words unnerved Takako slightly. It was as if his presence didn't even merit a word.

As if reading his thoughts, the general paused in the doorway of the tent.

"I'll be heading back to the capitol today."

With that, the man left, whistling a tuneless melody, that sounded off. Takako refused to watch him leave. Turning to his work on the table, he looked at the problem, and carelessly wrote in a few answers.

A few minutes later, he glared at the burning paper on the ground. He hadn't been able to find the solutions to the simple puzzle. Despite all of his concentrated efforts, he was disturbed.

* * *

"Hey. HEY!"

Tohru remained frozen. If she didn't move, they might leave. She wouldn't be freed from this net either.

"What are you doing?"

Tohru moved then, leaning inside the net she was caught in to peer downwards.

"YUKI-KUN!" She called excitedly. "Hatsuharu-san!"

The person she'd been ignoring stood straighter. "I have orders to release Tohru Honda." Relaxing his stance, he leaned in closer to Yuki and muttered, "But I'm supposed to release her to her own people, and not let that 'healer' know. Now, seeing as how she knows you, I'm just going to leave her to you, all right?" Straightening again, he marched off.

"WAH!" Tohru gasped as her stomach dropped. Grasping the ropes of the net tightly, she waited.

Haru straightened also, holding a rope in his hands. Walking over to a rock, he jumped on top of it. Tohru gasped as the net dropped again.

"That's as far as I can go without climbing a tree," Haru said.

"Honda-san?" Tohru opened her eyes, to see Yuki reaching up, a sheathed knife in his hands. "Cut yourself out, and I'll help you down."

Tohru took the knife gingerly. "What are you two doing here, Yuki-kun?" she asked as she sawed at the ropes.

"We were looking for Kyo," Yuki replied, watching as the tension on the ropes changed. "When we were passing that soldier we saw you, so we decided to intervene. What happened anyway?"

"Well," Tohru began.

"Watch it!" Haru commented as Tohru plummeted towards the ground and Yuki.

"I'm sorry Yuki-kun," Tohru began, looking for him. "Huh? Why... why aren't you-?"

"A mouse?" Yuki finished, looking just as stunned. Haru stared at them as well.

"A mystery..."

* * *

Short but workable.

I'm not entirely happy with my writing right now, but to change what I'm unhappy with requires changing a whole lot more of this story. So I'll just keep with this style, and soon it won't matter, it'll be done! It's been 4 years since this story started, and I hope to finish it before September, but we'll see.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"Well, I must say that whoever poisoned you really has no idea how healers are trained," Hatori said, his lips twitching. Sitting in a chair beside the Grandfather, he shook his head.

"Perhaps he forgot," The Grandfather chuckled. "If I recall correctly he hadn't gotten that far in his training. I think he was scared." Stretching he winced. "I may have built up a bit of immunity, but that doesn't mean I feel as energetic as Momiji," he sighed, settling back into the backrest of pillows.

"You had a close call." Hatori agreed absently, deeply involved in his thoughts. Yuki and Haru had not returned, nor sent word, and June 30th was drawing close. He'd hoped that Kyo would be back by now.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he hasn't shown by then..." he muttered.

"What was that? I beg your pardon, I didn't hear you," the Grandfather spoke up.

"It was nothing that you need to really be concerned with," Hatori assured him. "You have no idea how you came to be here?"

The Grandfather ponderously stared out the window, thinking. The sun warmed the cool tones of abundant green, and erased all thoughts of frozen toes and harsh winds. A light, warm breeze wafted in, carrying the scent of carnations, roses, and other flowers. A Monarch butterfly flitted onto the stone windowsill, innocently opening, then closing its wings repeatedly.

He frowned at the orange and black butterfly, but then he shook his head. "I don't think it really matters. Tohru is what matters at this point!"

"Honda-san?" Hatori frowned, unsure what had brought her into the discussion.

"I'm afraid that she fell into Takako's hands..." the Grandfather said sadly, his hands gripping his blanket tightly.

"You mean she didn't go with the rest of the group?" Hatori asked, sitting upright in alarm. The fact that The Grandfather had shown up almost dead on his doorstep was disturbing, but that his granddaughter was yet in trouble became the top priority now.

"No, she..." The Grandfather paused, struggling. Guiltily he remembered.

_Looking over at the distant hillside, he could no longer see the dust of the traveling group. It was a hard thing he had to do. His own former student turned against him, the truth still buried brutally deep in secrets. If only he'd been able to explain. _

_He turned at the muffled exclamation, then winced. His back was not young enough for such antics. But such is life. Walking stiffly to the bushes, he parted them._

_With horror, he looked at his dearly beloved granddaughters face, scratched and apprehensive._

"....it was unsafe to send her on to meet up with our group. We were too close to the enemy camp. If a soldier found her," here he sighed, looking defeated. "Even the best of intentions fall short, and she fell into their grasp. I shudder to imagine what will happen to her."

As he stood up, Hatori forced a smile. "I promise to do all I can. If you'll excuse me?" He hardly waited for the Grandfather's nod, and his shoes tapped a warlike march out of the room.

* * *

Pacing in the war room, the General spoke in strident tones, though his movements were slow and concentrated.

"After spending time with the healer, I believe there is no time to waste, it is to our benefit. We must move **all**our forces immediately, to attack. "

"You advise such a move? After all we've put into this war?" incredulous, the King looked at his general, his hands paused in their act of shuffling through documents.

"Yes."

Tensely the servants waited, as the king and general held a staring match.

Finally the king nodded, once. "I trust your judgment. Our forces march on the morrow." Re-inking his quill, he dated the paper June 26th, signed, and handed the papers to a courier.

* * *

"Yo, Hana, you sense anything yet?" Uo called back, her hands idly scratching her neck, near the hilt of her sword. Hana shook her head, and kept walking at her slow pace.

"Patience," she murmured.

Frustration took over, and Uo slid her sword out of its sheath.

"WHAT WAS SHE THINKING!!!" She swung at a thin branch, slicing it cleanly away from its tree. Her hair came loose from its ties, and flowed with her movements in wild dances as she attacked more innocent trees. "SHE NEEDS US! SHE COULD HAVE AT LEAST BROUGHT US ALONG!!! RIGHT?!" She turned and faced Hana expectantly, not even breathing hard.

"Uo," Hanajima murmured, as black shapes slithered down the tree trunks.

"Finally!" Uo turned to face her new targets, glad for something more challenging than trees. "Don't take them all, I want some!"

"I wouldn't dream of spoiling your fun," Hana smiled, and kept walking. Behind her, one man froze.

"Mrrrow," he mumbled, yawning, before curling up as a cat in the middle of the road. Another man flapped his arms, tweeting like a bird and trying to fly. Smiling, Hana turned to the last man. He was muttering, "I am a boar, I am a boar..." as he dug in the dirt.

"I see you're raising a circus over here," Uo said as she cleaned off her sword, scattered bodies behind her.

"Merely a petting zoo."

* * *

"Haa-san, really, what's all the rush about?" Shigure whined trailing after Hatori.

"Really Hatori, you need to calm down, all this stress is not good for you" Ayame said, sweeping along behind them, as if he led his own personal entourage, and wasn't playing follow the leader.

"I've already sent Yuki and Haru to look for Kyo, and they haven't returned yet." Hatori said, striding forward to the council room. "There's no time to waste. They have Honda-san."

"Tohru?" Shigure hurried to catch up to Hatori. "What do you mean, she went home, with the others,"

"The Grandfather was left at our doorstep last night, barely alive. This morning he informed me that his granddaughter was with him when he went to see that healer." Stepping inside the council room, he strode over to the maps on the wall. "I believe we have no other choice. In place of our still absent King, I'll be sending a small, highly trained group of soldiers after her."

* * *

Sitting in a tree outside the vaguely familiar walls, Kyo rationalized his actions. If the Grandfather had been poisoned, his granddaughter might be in trouble as well. And if she was still in trouble, they needed to get her out of it. And that was why he was here, sitting outside her old room, making sure she was all right. It was bizarre; he'd stayed away from the castle because that was where Tohru was. Now he was looking for her.

Swallowing, he grabbed the branch his feet rested on, and leaned backwards. Flipping mid-air, he was able to land lightly on his feet. Straightening, he twisted from side to side, then walked casually over to Tohru's window. Peeking inside, he frowned, as a part of his chest became heavy. The room hadn't been touched in months.

"Great. I even fought past those stupid-!" he muttered, turning abruptly and walking back the way he'd come. Ignoring questioning looks, he strode over to the wall and heaved himself over. Storming back through the trees, he muttered angrily to himself.

He'd found something he needed to do, something more important than finding and killing Takako. Something more important than his vow to stay away from Tohru. He had to make sure Tohru was all right.

* * *

Yet another short chapter, but I hope it's still welcome. If you'd like, I drew a picture of Uo and Hana and you can find it on my deviantart – see my profile for a link.

If you've ever wondered about the title of this story, here's a little blurb: While surfing the web ages ago, I saw the improper grammar "Borrow Me A Nightmare Scarf?" as a title for a topic.... Well it tweaked at my thoughts, which were thinking of this story. Everything can and will go wrong at an innopportune moment. It's talking about Kyo when he's kidnapping Tohru. He's not supposed to turn into a cat, he's not supposed to like her.... ^^ But I changed it to Lend because i felt it was somewhat better grammar (I didn't do so well with grammar in school though lol) Anyhow there ya go! (If i never explained it)


	20. Chapter 20

I really like the feature on that allows me to see how many people visited my story, and their countries. When finishing up this chapter, I frequently looked at that page....it's a lot more encouraging than no reviews. ^_^

**Chapter 20**

After pulling an all-nighter scouting for Tohru, Kyo rubbed at his weary eyes. He had found Takako's army again, but no sign of Tohru. She wasn't safe at home, and she wasn't anywhere on the route between her home and Takako's army.

"You were looking for Kyo-kun?"

Kyo jumped at the unexpected voice beneath him, then dropped his head into his hands. He was hallucinating now, imagining every girls' voice to be Tohru's. Twisting his head to one side, then another, he glanced down. His name wasn't uncommon, the chances they meant him were slim. As his bleary eyes focused, he frowned. On the other hand, it could be some interfering relatives.

"Yes." Kyo watched Haru, looking bored as he scanned the surrounding area. _He's lost again _Kyo thought, rolling his eyes. His eyes flicked to the rat as he rummaged in his knapsack. Looking at the last member, hidden behind Haru, he tilted his head. The hair was too light for Kagura, and too long. Craning his neck farther, he finally caught sight of her face.

_Tohru._ Sagging back against the tree, he felt the relief swirl through him. It eased the rock in his chest, and the tension he hadn't noticed drained out of his muscles, leaving him limp and unable to move. _She's safe. _ For moments, all he did was breath as he let the feeling wash over him. She's _safe._

Yuki's voice floated up again, its smooth elegance annoying him. He looked down again as Yuki handed Tohru a piece of bread. "We couldn't wait any longer for him to come back on his own, for obvious reasons."

Watching him, Kyo felt all pleasant feeling leave him. After all that worry, all his exhaustion, Tohru was safe and sound: safe with that RAT. Kyo ground his teeth. It felt too much like the entire story of his life – the rat always beating the cat. Turning over, he grasped the sturdy branch he'd leaned against, and pulled himself up; he wasn't going to stick around and watch.

"So why were you in that net, Honda-san?" Yuki asked, breaking his piece of bread apart. Kyo stilled. _Tohru, in a _net_?_ What had he missed? Slowly he let go and let himself slide back down, and watched as Tohru choked on her piece of bread.

"Hey." Haru's voice stopped him from craning his neck any further. Frozen, he looked down through the leaves, wondering if Haru'd seen him. While he might have worked himself out of a job, he was in no mood to walk back to the castle with _that rat_ like a lost pet.

"You guys want some apples?" Haru asked the others, looking up at Kyos' tree. Kyo winced, looking at the red apples surrounding him, but none of them near enough to the ground for Haru to reach. _He'll have to climb up here to get any, _Kyo thought, his brain clicking through his options.

"If it's not too much trouble," Tohru replied, coming to stand beside Haru beneath the tree. Watching as Haru clambered up the tree, Kyo remained frozen. In his experience, what didn't move had a large chance of not being noticed by Haru.

"Too green, red apple, red apple," Haru murmured as he plucked apples. "Orange head." As Haru reached for Kyo's head with an uninterested look, Kyo hurriedly jumped for a nearby branch. _Unless he's actually looking for something,_ Kyo thought bitterly. Dropping from the branch he hit the ground, stumbled then took off running.

"Kyo-kun!" Tohru's astonished yell ringing in his ears, he ran. A yell, and footsteps hurrying after him didn't surprise him at all.

"Kyo wait," Yuki exclaimed, grabbing his shoulder. Ducking Kyo's punch, he swept Kyo's feet out from under him. As he landed, Kyo rolled backwards and came up in a fighting stance.

"WHAT?" He demanded, watching Yuki cautiously, and out of the corner of his eye saw Haru and Tohru hurrying towards them.

"You're the _King_!" Yuki burst out as he skipped in and toppled Kyo with a powerful side kick. Kyo slingshot away, returning with a roundhouse kick. Yuki stumbled back, but Haru jumped in from behind, grabbing Kyo in a Full Nelson.

Glaring at Yuki, Kyo avoided looking at Tohru. "Quit messin with me!" he growled, but he didn't move. "I'm not gonna believe some stupid story about me bein King, and I sure as heck ain't goin back with you."

"Kyo," Tohru whispered, her eyes wide and hopeful. Folding his arms, Yuki just stood there, watching. Kyo kept glaring.

"Honda-san, please go on ahead, it's not far yet to the castle," Yuki asked, turning and smiling gently at her. "I'll be right there."

"I-" Tohru started, turning from Kyo and looked up at Yuki, her face earnest in protest. She stopped in embarassment, blushing and losing her energy as she looked down. "As you wish, Yuki-kun." she said humbly. She hesitated; Kyo refused to notice her eyes as the flicked towards him, and didn't quite watch as she slowly walked on. He could feel Yuki's gaze burning into him; burning him because of his own guilt, not any anger on Yuki's part.

"I'm not going to repeat myself, and I don't need to express my opinion of you right now," Yuki stated, his eyes even as he stared at Kyo.

"Come back when you're ready Kyo," Yuki said and tucked a fold of papers inside Kyo's pocket. "You can let him go now, Haru." Easing his arms off of Kyo, Haru didn't say a word, but casually tucked his hands in his pockets, and followed Yuki. Kyo watched them go, his anger smoldering, trying to stay alive as the water of doubt poured onto it.

* * *

Riding at the head of his legion, Takako smirked in satisfaction. All his, all under his control, all a part in his plan. He glanced at the sky, a clear, still blue. It was a good day to commence his final attack, and he was excited to spread havoc with his new disease. The lack of wind wouldn't help though. The stifling heat that refused wind the right to disturb it, also quelled those bothersome crickets.

A slight figure in his peripheral vision caught his attention. As his eyes narrowed, a voice interrupted and pulled his attention to what lay ahead of him.

"Healer, I arrest you in the name of the king, for high treason. You have misused your powers, hypnotizing influential members of this kingdom, including the king, damaged international relations, poisoned a peaceful healer, all to further your nefarious purposes." The general intoned from atop his horse.

Takako froze, belatedly mourning his insistence on keeping his disease under lock and key until they were closer to their destination.

"Those forces previously under his command are ordered to return to their king or be hunted down as enemies of the crown." The General's voice carried over the entire group, falling upon silent men. Not one moved, and Takako felt relieved – he hadn't hypnotized so many before, and he hadn't been sure it would work. A rumble built up across from him.

"CHARGE!"

* * *

_I wonder...I wonder how I can tell everybody, that my grandfather..._ Tohru hugged herself, sniffling. Her gaze down, she kept walking, barely noticing how green the grass was, or that her feet were damp from the dew. An orange butterfly flew underneath her gaze, lifting it up to a grouping of cattails.

Tears emptied out of her eyes freely, and the temptation to turn around pulled at her. She didn't want to leave Kyo-kun like that, she wanted to stay. Perhaps Yuki-kun was done speaking to him now. Turning with resolution, she caught a glimpse of bright yellow and purple.

Tohru gaped at the large number of men through the trees. All of them wore the same colors as those she'd just escaped. Gasping, she spun and hurried away, wondering what was taking Yuki-kun and Hatsuharu-san so long. She tripped over a tree root, sprawling haphazardly against the trunk of the ancient tree. Her legs tangling in her skirts, she managed to turn over, looking up in fear for a raised sword. A war cry startled her and her pounding heart stuttered. Scrambling backwards, she felt the whoosh of air rushing past her as she slid down a slope slick with grass and dew.

* * *

"I just hope things don't go wrong," Yuki sighed as Haru caught up with him. "It's a lot to take in, but with him..." Looking ahead, he spied Tohru, looking dejectedly at her feet. "Does she look all right to you," he asked, tilting his head towards Haru.

"Aah," Haru hedged, studying her. "I'd say she looks...scared," he finished, as Tohru turned, paused then ran off like a startled rabbit.

"Honda-san," Yuki called, quickening his pace to catch up with her. In the corner of his eyes he saw a vast grouping full of yellow, purple, and metal. As the command to charge boomed through the forest, he saw people rushing towards him, and turned to fight. Against Kyo, who wore no armor and carried no sword, Yuki was well equipped. But against chain mail he had less to work with. Still, he raised his arms and got to work. In the tighter space he had little room to kick. Instead he made his way to Haru by shoving people out of the way, or making swift chopping motions with his hands at the bases of necks.

"Yuki!" Haru shouted over the tumult. "Here!" He heaved one of his swords, and jumping, Yuki caught it. Sliding it out of its sheath, he faced his opponents with more hope for success. As Yuki fought, the entire world seemed to become darker, even the sky turned gray. The purples and yellows dimmed in their brightness, becoming closer to the dulled gray of their armor.

The air buzzed with tension, rang with the clash of steel, and roared with the sound of war. Angry shouts melded into one continuous roar. In the midst of it all, four minds were concentrated on one, lowly girl.

"_Where is she?"_

* * *

I really do like to keep in character, and Haru makes me laugh with his blank face coupled with his comments. The apple scene would have made me laugh if I'd seen it in the manga, and I can only hope that you can imagine it and smile too! Then again if you don't find him funny, you probably didn't find my little apple scene funny either.

When Kyo and Yuki were fighting, I wrote that Kyo slingshot. Slingshot: In a fighting stance, you swing the front foot (and you) 180 degrees, then turn another 180 degrees; as you come back you kick. The swing gives you momentum. If you were in a right foot back fighting stance you'd swing to your right.

If you don't know what a Full Nelson is, look it up – it's a wrestling move. Thanks to my good friend Jordan for answering my questions about it.

I used cattails not only because it has cat in it, and Kyo is the cat, but because CATTAIL can symbolize peace. (http://www.8 0 0 florals . com / care / meaning. asp ) without spaces.

I'm beta reader - less right now, I tried to find one through the site, but it's new to me, I'm not used to it... i'm too chicken to try again (hinting shamelessly)

**Please...tell me what you thought... any improvement seen? Yes, no maybe so??**


	21. Chapter 21

3 reviews a Add to Favorite Story, and 1 add to story alert ....Thank you!!!

**Chapter 21**

Sitting at his temporary desk, Hatori rested his forehead in his hand. W_hy am _I _ the one running things around here? I'm a doctor, not a king. The Council should be doing all of this._ He sighed, knowing very well that The Council was dissolved until further notice. It would be Kyo's job to pick the new Council. Reminded, he checked his calendar. _It's already the 28__th__. Kyo better be back in two days._

"Tori-san, working hard as always!" Ayame said, sweeping in, holding out a tray with two steaming cups and a tea pot on it. Behind him, one of the generals came into the room, looking important. As Hatori sipped at Aaya's tea, the General walked to the large map on the wall, and waited. When Hatori nodded at him, he began.

"With the aid of The Grandfather and those under him, we've been able to heal numerous soldiers. I now feel it is time to attack the rogue healers' army, before he can spread even more disease. His forces are on the Southern Plains not a half hour away, approaching us as we speak. My soldiers are ready to leave as soon as you give the word!"

Hatori straightened in his chair. "Do whatever you think is necessary General. If I may, I would like to accompany you; I may be able to use their weapon against them."

* * *

His dying anger forgotten, Kyo jumped up and scrambled into the nearest tree. As soldiers rushed beneath him, he scanned the area beyond them, searching for Tohru. His eyes skimmed over the white and silver heads of his cousins. Momentarily his heart leaped when he spied a bare, brown head, before he realized it wasn't her. Yet, as he saw the man furtively slink through the trees, he frowned. Grabbing the branch above his head, he swung back and forth then jumped into the next tree, following him up the hill.

Perched like a large black hawk eying a rabbit, he scowled as he watched the man muttering. The air around him began to move, in quick, agitated movements. Nodding excitedly, Takako drew a box from under his arm, and carefully opened it. Inside lay a glass vial, death reeking from it's black contents. Suddenly the air erupted into a violent windstorm. It screamed through the trees, whipping the branches and tearing leaves from the trees. Squinting, Kyo could just about make out the healer as he tugged at the stopper of the vial.

Not about to allow Takako any more time, Kyo flipped out of the tree to the ground, staggering as he landed. Springing up from the ground, he lunged for the vial. Shoving the healer away, he grasped the vial and somersaulted into the bushes.

"Who _dares_ -" Takako came up spitting, and looked around wildly. Kyo smirked as he watched Takako, and stuffed the stopper more firmly into the vial. Takako dashed around the hilltop frantically, searching for the vial. Grasping at his wind tossed hair, Takako muttered to himself.

"A bat, no, too large, a vulture – not in this part of the country! And it couldn't be human, I didn't even sense a thing-!!"

Kyo studied the black disease he held in his hand. He could see the tattoo on his hand through the vial, black stands twisting sinisterly above it. Shuddering, he grabbed a leather pouch from his pocket. Tying it inside, he stuffed in into an inside pocket of his clothing.

* * *

"That stupid cat should be all right on his own," Yuki gasped, leaning against a tree. "I can't figure out who they're fighting against; it would be absurd for an entire army to attack 3 lone travelers."

"They're fighting each other," Haru replied. Following his line of gaze, Yuki looked at the fighters as well.

"That doesn't make any sense," he muttered.

"AH!" he exclaimed, his fist landing in his other hand, like a gavel. "Haru, look at that one's eyes," he said, pointing. "See that blank stare? It's exactly like the hypnosis the healers use for violent patients."

"It looks like it's failing too," Haru commented, as the man's gaze changed to confused panic. The man dropped his sword and put his hands above his head, yelling.

* * *

He landed roughly; rolling to his feet, his grimaced, feeling the ache travel from his back through his chest. Looking behind him, he watched as the healer's lifeless body fell towards the ground, its arms lifted effortlessly in the wind. It landed ungracefully, with limbs askew. He winced at the crack of the breaking skull, and felt his stomach twist. Crawling back into the trees, he sped away from the scene. His emotions sloshed slowly inside him, unsure what to bring to the surface, what to drop to the depths.

Nearing the battle, he shook himself mentally, bringing himself back to the situation. He spotted an archer taking aim and changed direction. He pulled his way through the tops of the trees, until he came up behind the man. Raising both hands like knives on either side of the mans' head, he brought them down sharply, knocking the man out cold. He watched as the man tumbled down the slope, past a climbing person with long brown tresses, and felt his heart stutter.

"TOHRU!" He shouted, half falling out of the tree in his haste. He tripped over to the edge, and dropped to his knees. Anxiously he watched, waiting for a response.

"Eh?" Tohru up at him and blinked her large, clear eyes. Relieved, he noted that her eyes were perfectly clear, and aside from being muddy, she didn't seem to be hurt. Hanging his head in relief, he sighed.

"Kyo-kun?" she gasped. Her face lifted to his eagerly and her hands scrabbled against the slope hastily as she tried to reach him faster. He smiled.

"Yeah."

Carefully he braced his feet amongst the roots of a nearby tree and inched his upper half down the slope, reaching. The tips of their fingers brushed, as a rumble of thunder cut through the sounds of fighting. Cracking, rocks slipped from under Tohru's foot, making her lose a few inches as they fell to the ground.

A cold drop burst on the back of his neck, making him shiver; it trailed to the edge of his jaw, down his cheeks and off of his nose. He could feel the strain in his already stretched stomach muscles as he stretched a bit farther to reach her. She stepped up again; their hands finally connected. He hauled her out and fell back against the tree, sighing in relief.

"Kyo-kun!" she gasped, losing her balance and falling into him. Stiff with surprise, he waited for the arms braced around him to become loose as he turned into a smaller form.

_Come on...just..._

His breathing shortened and Tohru pulled back, a stunned expression plastered across her face. Her hands traveled to his face, before she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Dazed, he gathered her closer, barely believing what he felt. His breathing stalled as he felt her silky hair brushing against his cheek.

"Tohru," he whispered wonderingly. Hesitantly. _I don't care if I'm king,_ he realized. _I just... I just want to be close to her._

A drop splattered on his hand, followed by another a minute later. Slowly he looked up, and watched as gentle winds tugged gray clouds above him. Not 50 feet from the fighting, he felt isolated with Tohru, at peace in their own sphere. The roar of battle didn't penetrate, only the soft sighing of winds foretelling rain. Closing his eyes, he savored the moment.

A soft cough echoed into his sharp ears. His eyes flicked up and trailed the area behind Tohru. Ten feet away, soldiers in Sohma red and white stood with swords cautiously raised.

* * *

I've been writing the characters to match more closely with their selves in the beginning, with dabs of their later selves. I know that things are different in the manga in the end, but the story works better with their earlier selves – and to develop them like the manga isn't exactly original ne?

That said – I'm glad you liked the apple scene! Thanks for letting me know! **I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!**

**I tried to not be too ... cliché **with the rain, with Tohru being in trouble etc. I think I might have failed with Tohru being in trouble – but she was trying to get out of it and not unconscious. Her falling was just going with the theme of the story: Murphy's Law. ("Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.") Hence the title of the fanfic.

As this story is ending, I'll ramble, say goodbye to my story. (feel free to skip the rest)

Just for laughs, here's the first summary I used. I didn't get to use all of these, but they are used by the characters in this world. I had fun thinking of these ^^

Summary: AU. Meet The Heartless Fire, The Doctor Duke, Perverted Novelist Extraordinaire, THE Charismatic Clothing designer, and a few other infamous people. The saying "Anything can and will go wrong at an in opportune moment" is true. Kyoru, HatorixMayu, and Yuchi, among others.


End file.
